Legal Question in Workers Comp in California

If your employer can't find you a light duty work, then you have to go back on temporary disability. Your case is not closed, because you don't know the extent and nature of your injuries and future medical treatment. Feel free to call us at 213.388.7070 for a free consultation.

If you were PERMANENT & STATIONARY with Maximum Medical Improvement THEN your employer made a special 'permanent' modified job, all you get is Unemployment Benefits.

But it doesn't sound like those are your facts.

If the Treating PHysician is writing you are not yet at maximum recovery, you're still improving little by little, and not yet permanent and Stationary, then (1) your comp claim IS NOT CLOSED (unless the entire claim was denied and you accepted a lump sum in a compromise & release) and (2) you are Temporarily PARTIALLY Disabled and entitled to Total Temporary Disability indemnity checks from the Comp Insurer when the employer refuses to provide temporary modified duties.

SO GET COMPLETELY CLEAR on your 'Work Status'.

If your WORK STATUS in the medical reports was P&S and you resolved the claim with a Compromise & Release AGreement, THEN YOUR case is really closed and you are just a person laid off ready to apply for Unemployment Insurance with the EDD (www.edd.ca.gov ).

BUT IF your WORK STATUS is Temporarily Partially Disabled and not yet P&S and there was no Compromise & RElease Agreement, your claim ISN"T 'closed' (just because an adjuster writes a letter she;'s closing a 'file' does not mean you can't go to court for an award), AND YOU DEMAND -- IN WRITING -- TOTAL TEMPORARY DISABILITY PAYMENTS from this comp insurer ... because it's insured refuses to provide modified work.

and if the claim was denied as non-industrial from the beginning, it isn't closed... YOU just have to get your proof of the injury being caused by work and get ready for trial.

There's a Urban Myth that people with a Comp Claim cannot be terminated or laid off... and it's just a myth... people with work injury claims are terminated every day.

Email me at [email protected] ... maybe I can look at the document you think causes your claim to 'closed' and advise whether it's really closed or not in a quick email or phone call.