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The deadline that is almost never what people think
In a cumulative traumaCT — Cumulative trauma Injury from repeated exposure over time. The largest injury category in California and the least claimed. or occupational disease claim, 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.” is not when the wear started.
The law sets it as the date you first suffered disability and knew, or reasonably should have known, it was caused by the employment.
Both elements are required. Exposure alone is not a date of injury. A diagnosis alone is not a date of injury.
A worker whose back wore out over fifteen years and who was first taken off work last month may have a date of injury of last month.
The 30-day notice rule has a broad exception
The law requires notice within 30 days. The law then provides that knowledge “obtained from any source, on the part of an employer, the employer’s managing agent, superintendent, foreman, or other person in authority” is equivalent to formal notice.
A supervisor who saw it. A foreman you told. A first-aid log. A text to a manager. All notice.
And § 5403 provides that late notice does not bar the claim unless the employer was actually prejudiced by it — a real burden on the employer. More.
The deadlines that are real
| Deadline | What it governs |
|---|---|
| 1 year | File the Application for Adjudication |
| 10 calendar days | Object to a Declaration of Readiness — and the waiver is broad |
| At the MSC | Discovery closes — undisclosed evidence is inadmissible |
| 30 days | Request IMR after a UR denial — including a modification; 10 days if the dispute is only over MTUS Drug List drugs |
| 20 days | Petition for Reconsideration after a final decision |
| 12 months | § 4553 serious and willful misconduct petition |
| 1 year | § 132a discrimination petition |
| 2 years | § 5814 penalty, from when payment was due |
| 5 years from date of injury | Reopen for new and further disability |
| 240 weeks from date of injury | Outer limit on a death claim — not absolute: §§ 5406.5, 5406.6 and 5406.7 are named exceptions, and the law reaches 420 weeks for public-safety cancer, TB and blood-borne disease deaths |
The two most commonly miscounted: § 5410 runs five years from the date of injury — not from the settlement or the award. And § 5406(b)’s 240 weeks is four years and seven months from the date of injury, which in an occupational disease death can expire before the death. Death benefits.
Even if one has run, others may not have
A new injury is a new claim with its own date of injury — including a new cumulative trauma from work performed since. This is the most commonly missed route.
Future medical may still be open on a Stipulated Award, and treatment disputes remain 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). regardless of the five-year reopening limit.
A third-party claim exists outside the comp file entirely, with its own limitations period — generally two years for personal injury, and six months to present a claim against a government entity.
And a § 132a or FEHA claim arising from a termination has its own deadlines. Both routes.
What to do
Do not decide on your own. The analysis turns on § 5412, on § 5402(a), on which deadline actually applies, and on whether anything else is still live.
It costs nothing to have someone run it, and it takes one conversation.
Related:
Timing, and after it ends
How long it takes, and what can still be done later.
Sources
Labor Code § 2750.5§ 2810.3§ 3357§ 3600 (subd. (a))§ 3208.3(d)§ 3706§ 3708§ 3715§ 4453§ 4551§ 4553§ 4616.3§ 4616.4§ 4650§ 4660.1(c)§ 4663§ 4664(b)§ 4903§ 5400§ 5402§ 5403§ 5405§ 5406§ 5407§ 5410§ 5412§ 5502§ 5814§ 5814.5§ 5903Insurance Code § 11661Education Code §§ 44984, 45192§ 5502(d)(3)
City of Petaluma v. WCAB (Lindh) (2018) 29 Cal.App.5th 1175Escobedo v. Marshalls (WCAB en banc)SB 171 (SIBTF, operative July 2026)
General information about California law, not legal advice about your case.
Reviewed by Jamey Teitell, Partner & Trial Attorney · Last reviewed
Law Offices of Solov & Teitell, APC · (213) 380-9310
Printed from https://www.solovteitell.com/answers/i-think-i-missed-a-deadline/ · Last reviewed