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LOS ANGELES · SINCE 1965
Injured
at
work
in
Southern
California?
A work injury can touch everything at once — your health, your paycheck, your job, your family. You do not have to figure it out alone. This site explains what California workers' compensation may owe you, in plain English, with the statute beside every number. No fee unless we recover, and you are not responsible for costs we advance if there is no recovery.
Free, no obligation · about two minutes Or call
English · Español · 한국어
FREE CASE REVIEW
STEP 1 OF 3
Not sure where to start? That is okay. Three short steps — no charge, nothing you send commits you to anything, and a person listens first.
Which of these is closest?
It just happened, or I haven't filed yet
My claim was denied, or is delayed
My checks stopped, or are late
Treatment was denied or cut short
A QME, a rating, or a settlement offer is coming
I was fired, or I have restrictions and no work
My case is settled and I got worse
Something else, or not sure
Pick the closest one. You can explain the rest when we talk.
Confidential and free. Sending this does not create an attorney–client relationship. Or call .
We publish everything we know.
708 pages · 34 free tools · 35 original diagrams · 3 languages
→
60
Years in Los Angeles
708
Pages published, free
3
English, Spanish, Korean
$0
Up front
START READING
NO FEE UNLESS WE RECOVER
◆
ENGLISH · ESPAÑOL · 한국어
HOME & HOSPITAL VISITS
708 PAGES PUBLISHED
34 FREE TOOLS
35 ORIGINAL DIAGRAMS
SINCE 1965
01
— FOUR DOORS IN
you are
Choose the sentence that sounds most like what you are facing. Each one opens the page written for exactly that moment — what it may mean, and what next step may matter.
Something just happened.
6 pages
The first days set every clock that follows. You do not need to have done everything right so far — start with what happened.
The first 72 hours
My employer says I can't file
I didn't report it right away
I'm undocumented
I got hurt on my way to work
My employer has no insurance
02
They stopped something.
A denial, a delay, or a missing check is a decision someone made — and most of them can be questioned.
My claim was denied
My claim is delayed
My check stopped
They denied my MRI
They approved part of my treatment
My payments are late
03
Something is about to be decided.
5 pages
A QME, a rating, or an offer is where the money in a case is actually set. It is worth understanding before you sign.
I got a QME appointment
My doctor says I'm permanent and stationary
They offered me a settlement
Is my rating right?
I have work restrictions
04
Something is wrong with my employer, or my case.
Retaliation, a settled case that got worse, or a lawyer who has gone quiet — these have answers too.
I was fired after my injury
It built up over years, not one accident
Do I need a lawyer?
I already have a lawyer
Not seeing yours? · · ·
Tell us what happened →
Take the 2-minute triage →
En español
— THE LABOR CODE, PLAINLY
Every benefit depends on the facts of your claim. These are the categories the Labor Code provides , each with its statute.
§ 4600
$10,000
WHILE THE CLAIM IS INVESTIGATED
Medical treatment
All treatment reasonably required to cure or relieve the injury, with no co-pay. Including up to $10,000 while the claim is still being investigated (§ 5402(c)), and the interpreter, mileage, and second-opinion rights that go unclaimed because no one explains them.
§ 4453
2/3
OF YOUR AVERAGE WEEKLY WAGE
Temporary disability
Two-thirds of your average weekly wage while you cannot work, within the § 4453 floor and cap for your date of injury — $264.61 to $1,764.11 a week for 2026 injuries. Capped at 104 weeks, or 240 for nine listed conditions.
§ 4658(d)
70%+
RATING TRIGGERS A LIFE PENSION
Permanent disability
A rating that converts to weeks under § 4658(d), paid at a rate that has not moved since 2014. At 70% and above, a life pension follows. The rating is a string of numbers — and it is checkable.
§ 4658.7
$6,000
PLUS A $5,000 SUPPLEMENT
Job displacement voucher
$6,000 for retraining under § 4658.7 if you are not offered work within your restrictions, plus the $5,000 return-to-work supplement under § 139.48 — a separate application — yours to start, and easy to miss.
Mileage
76¢
PER MILE FROM JULY 1, 2026
Mileage reimbursement
Every mile to treatment, therapy, the pharmacy, and medical-legal exams — at the rate in effect on the date you traveled, not your date of injury. 76¢ a mile from July 1, 2026.
§ 4702
Dependency
SIZED BY NEED, NOT FAULT
Death benefits
Paid to the people who depended on the person who died — sized by that dependency, not by fault. And under § 4703.5, payments to totally dependent minor children do not stop at the maximum.
§ 4659(a)
For life
ABOUT 1.5% PER POINT ABOVE 60
Life pension
At a rating of 70% or higher, § 4659(a) pays about 1.5% of earnings for each point above 60 — per week, for life — after the permanent disability weeks run out. Most people are never told it exists.
§ 5410
5 years
FROM THE DATE OF INJURY TO REOPEN
Settlements
Two structures, and they treat your future medical care oppositely. A judge must approve either. What decides which is right is the § 5410 five years — which run from the date of injury, not the award.
Not sure which of these apply to you? That is the normal starting point. One conversation usually sorts it.
Ask about your claim →
— THE PROCESS, START TO FINISH
in order
Every statutory deadline, in sequence — and the three moments where cases quietly die.
The clocks a claim starts
Six deadlines running from the date of injury. The five-year reopening window and the one-year filing deadline are the two most often miscounted.
Spacing is not to scale.
Day 1
Employer must give you a DWC-1
§ 5401
FROM THE DAY YOU REPORT
30 days
Report the injury
§ 5400
FROM THE INJURY
90 days
Presumed compensable
§ 5402(b)
FROM THE CLAIM FORM
1 year
File the claim
§ 5405
OFTEN MISCOUNTED
104 weeks
Temporary disability cap
§ 4656
FROM THE FIRST PAYMENT
Reopen
1
The injury.
A single event, or a condition that built up over years — cumulative trauma counts, and § 5412 sets its legal date.
What counts.
I am at this stage — ask about it →
2
Report it — in writing.
30-DAY DEADLINE
Written notice to your employer within 30 days (§ 5400). A text or email with a date is enough.
If you didn't report right away.
The DWC-1 claim form.
STARTS EVERY CLOCK
Your employer must hand it to you within one working day (§ 5401). Filing it starts every clock in your favor.
The form, and what it starts.
4
Treatment begins.
Up to $10,000 of treatment must be authorized within one working day of the claim form — while the claim is investigated (§ 5402(c)).
How medical treatment works.
5
The insurer decides.
90-DAY DEADLINE
Accept, deny, or delay — 90 days, or the claim is presumed compensable (§ 5402(b)); 75 for public-safety presumptions.
If it is denied.
6
Benefits flow, or don't.
Temporary disability at two-thirds of your wage, medical care through the MPN, mileage as you go.
What you are owed.
7
Disputes.
Utilization review and IMR for treatment; the QME process for the medical questions the parties cannot agree on.
The QME process.
8
Permanent and stationary.
The doctor declares maximum medical improvement, and the rating string that decides your money is written.
Decode yours.
9
Settlement or trial.
JUDGE MUST APPROVE
Stipulations or a Compromise & Release, approved by a judge — or a hearing at one of thirteen Southern California district offices.
Settlements.
Hearings.
10
After.
5-YEAR WINDOW
Five years from the date of injury to reopen if you get worse (§ 5410) — and the life pension, if the rating reached 70%.
Already settled.
The claim process, every deadline in one table →
That is a normal place to be. Tell us what happened — free, no obligation — and a person calls you back within one business day.
Call (213) 380-9310
— CALCULATORS & GUIDES
sign up for
Every number carries its Labor Code section, and every tool tells you when your input is probably wrong — which is the part that changes outcomes. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
TRY ONE RIGHT NOW — LIVE
Two-thirds of your average weekly wage, within the § 4453 floor and cap for 2026 injuries. Drag your weekly wage.
$300/wk
$3,200/wk
Minimum wage, full time
$1,200
$2,000
Above the cap
IF YOUR AVERAGE WEEKLY WAGE IS
YOUR TD RATE IS ABOUT
$800
/ week
Floor $264.61 · Cap $1,764.11 · § 4453. An estimate, not legal advice — checks your inputs.
the full calculator
Checks coming in lower than this?
That is worth a conversation →
CALCULATOR
What am I owed?
Temporary disability, permanent disability, the life pension, mileage, and the penalties for paying you late — with the statute beside every number.
2-MINUTE TRIAGE
Should you call a lawyer?
Eight factual questions and an honest sort into three routes — including the one where the free state I&A officer can probably handle it.
✓
DECODER
Decode my rating string
Paste 15.03.01.00 – 8 – [1.4]11 – 340G – 13 – 15 and we explain all six parts, check the arithmetic, and convert it to dollars. We built it because we could not find it published anywhere else.
What are my deadlines?
Your date of injury in, every clock that applies to you out — sorted by urgency, including the two miscounted most often.
Your average weekly wage
Every benefit multiplies out of this one number, and § 4453(c) gives four ways to compute it. The carrier picked one.
Permanent disability: weeks and dollars
Your final percentage becomes weeks, each week pays a rate capped at $290 since 2014, and the tool says when the rating itself looks wrong.
All of the free tools →
05
— WORTH KNOWING BEFORE YOU SIGN ANYTHING
never told
§ 5402(c)
$10,000 in medical treatment
Your employer must authorize within one working day of your claim form, while your claim is being investigated or denied.
More.
§ 4650(d)
An automatic 10%
Added to any late indemnity payment, "without application." You do not have to ask. It is routinely not added.
§ 4656(c)(3)
240 weeks instead of 104
Of temporary disability for nine listed conditions. 136 extra weeks. Up to about $240,000.
§ 4553
One-half more, paid by the employer personally
Where the employer knew about the danger. Twelve-month deadline.
Third party
And the third-party claim.
Workers' compensation pays nothing for pain and suffering. A case against anyone other than your employer does, and it is frequently the larger of the two.
06
Honest triage
Sometimes you don't need a lawyer at all.
The state's Information & Assistance officers are free, and our triage sorts honestly — including the route where you handle it yourself.
01 / 06
←
If any of these sound like your claim, it may be worth asking questions.
— REPRESENTATIVE RESULTS
changed lives
Four representative recoveries, as published by the firm. Every case is decided on its own facts and law. Nothing here predicts what will happen in yours.
$50,000,000+
RECOVERED FOR INJURED WORKERS · SINCE 1965
Sixty years of representing the injured Californian. The four representative results below are as published by the firm. Every case is decided on its own facts, and past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
CATASTROPHIC
$3,500,000
ROOFER · TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY
Our client fell from a height on a Southern California residential roofing project and lived through a traumatic brain injury and a full year of inpatient rehabilitation.
The facts behind this result
LIFETIME CARE
$1,800,000
CATASTROPHIC INJURY · LIFETIME HOME CARE
Our client's industrial injuries left them needing twelve hours a day of in-home care, for life.
SURGICAL
$850,000
FAILED BACK SYNDROME · SURGERIES
Our client developed failed back syndrome and went through two unsuccessful upper-extremity surgeries.
$725,000
BACK SURGERY COMPLICATIONS
Our client's back surgery resulted in an incisional hernia and progressive deterioration.
Required disclosure — Business and Professions Code § 6158.3. The result portrayed in this advertisement was dependent on the facts of that case, and the results will differ if based on different facts.
Every case starts the same way: — free, no obligation — or call . ·
tell us what happened →
All five results, with the facts that produced them →
07
— SINCE 1965
Law Offices of Solov & Teitell, APC. Lessing Solov came home from the U.S. Army, took his law degree at Hastings, and opened this firm in 1965. Sixty years later it is still built for the same person — the injured Californian — in English, Spanish and Korean, with home and hospital visits when you cannot come to us.
Who calls you back. A person from this office — the same people who will handle your case — not a call center or a referral service.
Meet the attorneys →
About the firm →
How we research this site →
FOUNDER
STATE BAR #29450
Admitted to the California State Bar in 1959. Came home from the U.S. Army, took his law degree at Hastings, and opened this firm in 1965 — for the injured Californian, and no one else.
UCLA
U.S. Army
Hastings College of the Law
Founded the firm, 1965
PARTNER & TRIAL ATTORNEY
STATE BAR #183718
Partner and trial attorney. USC, then a J.D. in 1996. The lawyer who tries the cases that do not settle — and who reads the file before the first call back.
USC
J.D., 1996
Super Lawyers, 2026
08
— FROM THE HARBOR TO THE HIGH DESERT
Six counties.
We keep one office, on Olympic Boulevard in Los Angeles, and we represent injured workers across six counties. Each of them puts a different kind of wear on the people who work there — and the state, not us, decides which of its courtrooms hears your case, assigning it by ZIP code. We appear there for you. If you cannot come to us, we come to you, at home or in the hospital.
PACIFIC OCEAN
STYLIZED — VENUE FOLLOWS YOUR ZIP
N
OUR ONLY OFFICE
COUNTY WE SERVE
STATE COURT WE APPEAR AT
LOS ANGELES
ORANGE
SANTA ANA · ANAHEIM
RIVERSIDE
SAN BERNARDINO
VENTURA
OXNARD
KERN
BAKERSFIELD
THE ONLY SOLOV & TEITELL OFFICE
1625 W. Olympic Blvd, Suite 802 · Los Angeles, CA 90015
Mon–Fri 9–5. Home and hospital visits across all six counties.
Map & directions →
Los Angeles County
Our home county, and the one we know street by street. Garment workers in the Fashion District, hotel housekeepers downtown, warehouse crews in Vernon and out at the harbor, restaurant staff on their feet ten hours a night, janitors on graveyard shifts in towers they will never see in daylight. It is the busiest workers’ compensation venue in California, and the hardest one to be alone in.
Orange County
Theme-park and hotel workers in Anaheim, hospital and clinic staff across the county, framers and finish crews on tracts that never stop going up. The injuries here are lifting, overhead reaching, and the slow kind that build over years — and Orange County workers are among the least likely in the state to file for them.
Riverside County
The Inland Empire’s distribution floor. Pick rates that do not care how your back feels, pallet jacks, dock plates, and mile-long aisles walked in ten-hour shifts. Lifting injuries and cumulative trauma here are not accidents — they are the job, done as instructed, for long enough.
San Bernardino County
Drivers, yard hostlers, and dock crews from Ontario out to Barstow and Victorville, plus manufacturing floors and the heat that comes with both. Long hauls, tight turnarounds, and machinery that was guarded correctly right up until it was not.
Ventura County
Strawberry fields worked in a deep squat all shift — Oxnard, Santa Paula, Fillmore — alongside citrus and avocado crews on ladders under eighty-pound picking bags, and packing houses cold enough to stiffen a wrist. Backs, knees, shoulders, and heat. Many of these workers are told they have no claim. That is almost never true.
Kern County
Oilfield crews, packing houses, and the long-haul routes out of Bakersfield. It is the farthest county from us and the hardest one to be unrepresented in — at the district office there, a worker without an attorney cannot get past the lobby without an escort. We make the drive.
Which state courtroom hears your case — with the parking, transit, and security for each →
FREE CASE REVIEW — NO PRESSURE
next?
Wherever you are in this — just injured, mid-claim, or holding an offer you are not sure about — a conversation is a fine place to start.
No costs if there is no recovery
Two minutes, no documents needed.
We call you back
Within one business day, in your language.
You decide
No pressure, and nothing to sign to talk.
You can start even if you do not have every document. · Consultas gratis en español · 한국어 무료 상담
1965
WORKERS’ COMPENSATION
1625 W. Olympic Blvd, Suite 802 Los Angeles, CA 90015
Monday–Friday, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Free consultation. No fee unless we recover. Home & hospital visits available.
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© 2026 Law Offices of Solov & Teitell, APC. Attorney advertising. The information on this site is general information about California law, not legal advice about your case, and does not create an attorney–client relationship. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Spanish- and Korean-language services are provided by attorneys and staff of this firm who are fluent in those languages.
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