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Timely analysis, held to the same standard as the rest of this site: every figure carries its statute and effective date, every quote was read from a primary source, and no piece carries a byline until an attorney has reviewed it. When the law moves, these pages say what moved, when, and what it changes for an injured worker.
Latest
- The 10% the law adds to a late check — by itself
- When you don't need a lawyer
- What SB 171 actually changed in July 2026
- Why a repaired rotator cuff can rate zero
- The mileage rate changed mid-year. Which rate does your trip earn?
Your money, on schedule
The 10% the law adds to a late check — by itself →
Labor Code § 4650(d) increases any late indemnity payment 10% automatically, "without application" — and it is very frequently not added. The schedule that defines late, the § 5814 penalty on top, the employer's 90-day exit, and the ten-minute ledger that proves all of it.
What changed in the law
What SB 171 actually changed in July 2026 →
One bill, two big moves: SIBTF was rewritten retroactively, and § 5909's transmittal trigger became permanent — twelve days after most published material announced the opposite. We were among them; the correction is logged.
The 75-day presumption, drawn →
§ 5402(b)(2)'s section range is written in two pieces on purpose — it steps around the COVID-19 presumptions — and its sibling § 5414.3 is written unbroken. The difference decided real deadlines.
Rates & money
The 2026 temporary disability rates — and which year's rate you get →
$264.61 minimum, $1,764.11 maximum — but the interesting rule is which year applies. Date of injury controls for life, except for § 4661.5, the self-executing raise on delayed claims that carriers routinely fail to pay.
The mileage rate changed mid-year. Which rate does your trip earn? →
72.5¢ through June 30, 76¢ from July 1 — by date of travel, not date of injury. The rule most reimbursement checks get wrong, and the arithmetic for a list that spans the change.
Why a repaired rotator cuff can rate zero →
The AMA Guides contain no impairment value for a rotator cuff tear at all. What actually carries value in a shoulder rating, and what to check before accepting a number that feels impossible.
How the system actually works
When you don't need a lawyer →
The free state I&A officer handles more than most firms admit. An honest map of which problems the state resolves free, which are worth a consultation, and which have clocks that forgive nothing.
The claim, start to finish →
Every stage and every statutory deadline in one table — the reference page these articles hang off.
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General information about California law, not legal advice about your case.
Impairment values described are from the AMA Guides, 5th Edition as applied under the California rating schedule; the Guides are a copyrighted medical text and figures here are summarized rather than reproduced. Your rating depends on your own examination findings.
Law Offices of Solov & Teitell, APC · (213) 380-9310
Printed from https://www.solovteitell.com/articles/