Office and Remote Workers

Two questions, and the answers surprise people in both directions.

"I sit at a desk — do I even have a claim?" Yes. Repetitive strain and postural injury are among the most common occupational conditions in California and among the least frequently filed.

"I was hurt at home — am I covered?" Often yes, and the standard is more favorable than most employers assume.

Working from home

Your home is your workplace while you are working, and the going-and-coming rule does not apply to a commute you did not take.

The controlling idea is the personal comfort doctrine. An injury may be compensable where it occurs during an activity necessary for "personal comfort, convenience or welfare" — and the activity does not itself have to be job-related.

In Price v. WCAB (1984) the question was framed as whether the act was "reasonably contemplated by the employment" — and the court stated that "doubts as to whether an act is reasonably contemplated by the employment are resolved in favor of the employee."

In Johnson v. ABM Industries, a chief engineer injured his knee rising from a recliner at home to answer a work call he recognized by a programmed ringtone. The Appeals Board found it compensable — he was on call and performing a duty imposed by the employment.

What the analysis actually turns on:

• Were you on call or on standby?
• Was the activity a duty imposed by the employer?
• Was it necessary to fulfill the terms of the employment?
• And is your account of the circumstances credible and unrebutted? — which in a home injury with no witnesses is frequently the whole case.

Which is why documentation matters more in a remote injury than almost anywhere else. Report it the same day, in writing. Note what you were doing, what task it served, and who can corroborate the timing — a calendar entry, a message sent minutes before, a call log, a file saved.

And note what generally is not covered: a purely personal errand at home, unconnected to any work duty, at a time you were not working.

What desk work actually does

Carpal tunnel and wrist tendinitis, from sustained keyboard and mouse work. Note two rating facts before you are surprised: loss of grip strength is expressly excluded from a compression neuropathy rating, and normal electrodiagnostic testing does not permit a diagnosis for rating purposes. The full explanation.

Neck and upper back, from sustained forward head posture — the dominant complaint in remote work, where the "workstation" is frequently a kitchen table and a laptop.

Low back, from prolonged sitting. Prolonged sitting is a documented contributor to lumbar degeneration, and it is the basis of a legitimate cumulative trauma claim. Low back injuries.

Shoulders, from reaching and mouse use.

De Quervain's tenosynovitis and thumb tendinitis, from phone and trackpad use — and these have no diagnosis-based impairment value and rate at zero if motion returns. That does not affect your right to treatment or wage replacement. More.

Eye strain and headaches.

Falls — in the office, on stairs, and at home.

And psychiatric injury, which carries the higher § 3208.3(b) standard — actual employment events predominant as to all causes combined — and the good faith personnel action defense under § 3208.3(h). Psychiatric injury claims.

The claim nobody files

A desk worker whose wrists, neck, and back deteriorated over a decade has a cumulative trauma claim, and almost never files it — because there was no accident, no incident report, and nothing that felt like an injury.

Under § 5412, the date of injury is when you first suffered disability and knew or should have known it was work-related — not when the deterioration began. "It's been building for years" is not a reason the claim is late. It is a description of what a cumulative trauma claim is. How they work.

Frequently asked questions