“Can I reopen it?”

Which means the math is worse than it sounds

A worker injured in 2021 who settled in 2025 has until 2026 — one year, not five.

A worker injured in 2019 who settled in 2024 has already run out.

Check your date of injury and count from there, today. This is the most commonly miscounted deadline in California workers’ compensation, and it is not extendable.

Related: the Appeals Board’s continuing jurisdiction to rescind, alter, or amend an award for good cause is likewise bounded at five years from the date of injury.

And it depends entirely on how you settled

Stipulations with Request for AwardStips — Stipulations with Request for Award An agreed percentage paid over time, with future medical left open, and reopening available within five years of the date of injury. These are not two prices for the same thing. — permanent disabilityPD Permanent Disability. Compensation for lasting impairment. A different and much lower weekly rate — 2026 maximum $290/week. paid over time, future medical treatment stays open, and the case can be reopened for new and further disability within the five years.

Compromise and ReleaseC&R — Compromise and Release A lump sum that closes future medical treatment permanently. — a lump sum that closed future medical permanently, and generally forecloses reopening. That is the trade you made.

Which one you signed is on the document. Look at the title. The difference, and why it matters more than the dollar amount.

What “new and further disability” means

Not that you are still in pain. Not that you regret the settlement. That your condition has objectively worsened, or that a new disability has developed from the original injury, since the award.

What supports it:

• A new objective finding — imaging, a positive study, a new diagnosis
• Surgery that was not contemplated, or a failed surgery
• Documented progression of a degenerative or progressive condition
• A compensable consequenceCompensable consequence A new problem caused by the original injury or its treatment. Overusing the other side, the joint above or below, a surgical complication. that developed later — the other side, the joint above or below, CRPS, a medication consequence. More.
• A new period of temporary disabilityTD / TTD / TPD Temporary Disability, Total or Partial. Wage replacement while recovering. Two-thirds of average weekly earnings; 2026 maximum $1,764.11/week.

What does not: the same condition, unchanged, evaluated more favorably by a different doctor.

If the five years have run

It is not necessarily over.

Future medical treatment may still be open on a Stipulated Award, and the five-year limit on reopening for new disability does not close medical care. Treatment disputes are still contestable through URUR Utilization Review. The process that approves, modifies, or denies each treatment request. A modification is a denial of what it left out. and IMRIMR Independent Medical Review. The appeal from a UR denial. 30 days (10 if the dispute is only over drugs on the MTUS Drug List).. How.

A new injury is a new claim with its own date of injury — including a new cumulative traumaCT — Cumulative trauma Injury from repeated exposure over time. The largest injury category in California and the least claimed. from work performed since. This is the most commonly missed route.

And a third-party claim may exist entirely outside the comp file.

If your case is already settled and things got worse.