“Do they even have insurance?”

The two tools

1. The public coverage database at caworkcompcoverage.com. Free, searchable by employer name. Start here.

2. A Coverage Research Service Request to the WCIRB, where the database is inconclusive — which it often is for small businesses, name changes, and dissolved entities.

What you need is verification for the date of injuryDate of injury For a cumulative or occupational disease claim, the law sets it as when you first suffered disability and knew or should have known it was work-related — not when the wear began. Almost every deadline runs off this., not for today.

And in a cumulative traumaCT — Cumulative trauma Injury from repeated exposure over time. The largest injury category in California and the least claimed. claim, the relevant date is the § 5412 date of injury — when you first suffered disability and knew, or should have known, it was work-related — or the last day you were exposed at work, if that came first. Check coverage for the whole year before that date — that year decides which policies apply. How.

That WCIRB verification is the document the entire uninsured-employer process is built on. Get it before anything else.

If there is coverage

The carrier handles the claim regardless of whether the employer is still operating, has dissolved, or is in bankruptcy. A policy covers the injury, not the employer’s continued existence.

And if the carrier became insolvent, the California Insurance Guarantee Association exists to pay covered claims of insolvent insurers. More.

If there is no coverage

Two routes, usually pursued together.

The Uninsured Employers Benefits Trust FundUEBTF Uninsured Employers Benefits Trust Fund. Pays benefits where the employer was illegally uninsured. pays medical treatment, 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., permanent disabilityPD Permanent Disability. Compensation for lasting impairment. A different and much lower weekly rate — 2026 maximum $290/week., job displacement benefits, and death benefits. It is procedurally unforgiving — the employer must be formally served with your claim and a Special Notice of Lawsuit, and properly joined, and benefits generally do not attach until that is done correctly.

And § 3706 permits a civil action against the employer, where § 3708 presumes negligence and bars contributory negligence, assumption of the risk, and the fellow-servant defense. That is a materially different legal position — and it pays for pain and suffering, which comp does not. The full route.

Three related checks worth running

Cal/OSHA citation history — public, searchable, free. A prior citation for the same condition is close to the center of a § 4553 serious and willfulSerious and willful +50%, and uninsurable, so the employer pays personally. 12 months. petition, worth one-half of everything, with a twelve-month deadline. How.

Contractor licensing, in construction. Someone doing licensed work without a license cannot be an independent contractor — and their crew is frequently deemed employees of the licensed contractor or property owner who hired them. More.

And in a staffing arrangement, the law makes the client employer share liability where the labor contractor failed to secure coverage for workers doing the client’s regular, customary work at its site. How.