Legal Question in Workers Comp in California

Yes...and No. "Went to the clinic" sounds like the problem; in today's horrific Workers Comp system, unless you're gushing blood or taken by ambulance, you must go to a treatment facility on the comp insurer's list (it's Medical Provider Network, the ' MPN"). Thank Jerry Brown and your State Assemblywoman/man helping the insurance industry (insurance companies contribute a lot more to politicans than injured workers).

Labor Code 4600 pays you for mileage to and from treatment, so you are expected to go to work, work a few minutes, then clock out and GO ONLY TO AN MPN DOCTOR and -- if not found Totally Temporarily Disabled -- return to work immediately after the appointment ends. (iF you are in too much pain to return to finish a shift, YOU must convince the physician to write you are Temporarily Totally Disabled -- TTD -- for the day. You can only remain off work if and when the MPN Physician writes you are TTD, or you are absent from work without approval.

There is no requirement in the Labor Code that you report the injury immediately, you have up to one year after the injury date to notify the employer (if you signed a Memorandum of Understanding or received an Employee Handbook requiring notification to the employer on the same date of injury, and you failed to comply with this requirement, than you can get a write-up for violating your written agreement with the employer).

Most MPN physicians aren't doctors, they are 'medical assistants' with high-school degrees in white coats purportedly supervised by a medical doctor. Most look at you for a second and return you to full duty with ibuprofen and declare you healed... you'd be lucky to get an xray. You need an attorney familiar with your region's doctors, and ASAP.

I STRONGLY SUGGEST YOU GET AN ATTORNEY THAT WILL FILE A PETITION FOR INCREASED BENEFITS PER LABOR CODE 132A. A lot of attorneys don't do 132a Petitions, so be absolutely certain that before you sign you see a 'draft' of the 132a and written assurance the attorney will file and serve the 132a petition (most dont...it's twice the work for 1/2 the money). LC132a asserts that you were retaliated against for having requested Workers Comp benefits, and the employer has no insurance against this and will not want to hire a lawyer to defend it, so should stop threatening to terminate you (but it's no guarantee...injured workers getting workers comp benefits get terminated for cause every day). If your hours were cut because of the injury, that's a violation of LC132a; if you are criticized and reprimanded for attending appointments, that's a violation of LC132a.