Cal. Lab. Code section 3602 makes workers compensation the exclusive remedy against your employer. Section 3852 preserves your right to sue a third party whose negligence contributed to the injury. That distinction is worth a great deal, because workers compensation pays no pain and suffering, and a third-party civil claim does.
Was anything or anyone not employed by my employer involved. A vehicle, a machine, a product, a contractor from another company, a property owner, a delivery driver. If yes, there may be a second claim and it is the one that pays for what you actually went through.
In a defective product or equipment case the item itself is the case. Do not let it be repaired, discarded or returned to a vendor without photographs and, ideally, without notice to everyone involved that it must be preserved.
One year for the workers compensation claim under § 5405, two years for the civil claim under Cal. CCP § 335.1. Filing one does not preserve the other, and workers routinely lose the civil claim while focused on the comp claim.
Each is a party other than your employer whose negligence or defective product may have contributed to a work injury.
The workers compensation claim provides benefits during the case. The civil claim is investigated on its own schedule.
In equipment and product cases the physical item is the case. Preservation is time sensitive in a way the comp claim is not.
Medical treatment under § 4600 and temporary disability under § 4650 continue while the civil claim is pending.
Benefits paid by the employer or carrier generally become a lien against any third-party recovery.
The reimbursement amount is frequently negotiable, and that negotiation materially affects what you keep.
§ 5405 gives one year for the comp claim. Cal. CCP § 335.1 gives two years for the civil claim. Neither preserves the other.
The exclusive remedy bar covers your employer. Work sites routinely contain parties who are not your employer.
Cal. Lab. Code § 3602 provides that where the conditions of compensation are met, the right to recover compensation is generally the exclusive remedy against the employer for an injury.
The scope of that bar is specific. It covers the employer and, in most circumstances, co-employees acting within the course of employment. It does not cover the world.
There are recognized exceptions even as to the employer, including where the employer failed to secure workers compensation coverage under § 3706, and in certain narrow circumstances involving conduct outside the normal employment relationship.
For most injured workers the practical point is simpler: the bar is about your employer, and a work site frequently contains parties who are not your employer.
Workers compensation benefits are defined by statute: medical treatment reasonably required, a portion of lost wages, and a permanent disability rating. That is the system, and it is designed to be predictable rather than complete.
What it does not include is non-economic damages. No pain. No suffering. No loss of enjoyment of life. No compensation for a career you can no longer have in the way a civil jury might assess it.
A third-party civil claim under § 3852 includes all of it, because it is an ordinary negligence claim measured under Cal. Civ. Code § 3281.
That is why identifying a third party matters so much. The same injury can produce a modest workers compensation award and a substantially larger civil recovery, and workers who never ask the question receive only the first.
Vehicle collisions during work. Any driver injured by another motorist while working has a workers compensation claim and a civil claim. This is the most common third-party scenario and it is frequently missed.
Equipment and machinery. A machine that failed, a tool that was defectively designed, a piece of equipment without adequate guarding. The manufacturer is not your employer.
Multi-employer work sites. Construction and warehouse sites routinely have several companies operating simultaneously. A worker injured by another company's employee has a claim against that company.
Premises. Where you work at a location your employer does not own or control, the property owner may bear responsibility for a dangerous condition.
Products and chemicals. Exposure or injury from a defective or inadequately labeled product supplied by a vendor.
When an employer or carrier pays workers compensation benefits and the worker then recovers from a third party, the employer or carrier is generally entitled to reimbursement out of that recovery.
This is a legitimate right and it is not something to be surprised by at the end of a case. What varies is the amount actually paid, because lien resolution involves negotiation, allocation questions, and arguments about the employer's own comparative fault where relevant.
The practical consequence is that the headline civil recovery and the amount you keep can differ substantially, and the difference is determined by work done at the end of the case rather than at the beginning.
It is worth understanding this before a third-party case resolves, because it changes what an acceptable settlement number actually looks like.
The workers compensation claim runs on Cal. Lab. Code § 5405: generally one year from the date of injury.
The civil claim runs on Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1: two years from the date of injury.
These are separate systems and filing in one does not preserve the other. A worker who spends eighteen months focused on a contested workers compensation claim can find the civil claim expired without ever having considered it.
And if a public entity is involved — a city vehicle, a county facility, a dangerous roadway condition — Cal. Gov. Code § 911.2 imposes a six-month written claim deadline that is shorter than both.
The first question is whether anyone other than your employer was involved.
We look at everything and everyone involved in the injury and identify whether a third-party claim exists alongside the comp claim.
In equipment and product cases the item is the case. Preservation happens immediately, not after the comp claim resolves.
Workers compensation for benefits during the case, and the civil claim for the damages workers compensation does not pay.
Reducing the reimbursement out of your recovery is part of the work. Our fee comes from the recovery only.
Free review of both tracks. No fee unless we win.
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