Riverside WCAB District Office

Photo ID is required at the security desk — for everyone in your group.

And if the district office’s floor reaches capacity, members of your party may be asked to wait in the ground-floor food court until your hearing has concluded. That is a real and regular occurrence, not an edge case. Arrive early and plan for it, particularly on a conference-heavy morning.

Parking: downtown meters and city lots; a small lot at University & Main; and the Market Street garage — first 90 minutes free. Ninety minutes will not cover a trial or an expedited hearing, so plan to pay beyond it.

Transit: Metrolink Riverside Line, Riverside-Downtown station, about a mile away. Riverside Transit Agency serves the area — but the DWCDWC Division of Workers’ Compensation, part of the Department of Industrial Relations. Administers the system. Information Services Center: 1-800-736-7401.’s page still names Route 50, which is not on RTA’s current route list. Check with RTA before relying on it.

Food: a ground-floor food court, Mission Inn restaurants, and the Main Street promenade.

Your notice gives a session, not a time. Cases are set in blocks — the morning session or the afternoon session — and called in turn. Allow half a day for anything in person, and a full day for a trial, even if the trial itself is shorter.

Security, in the DWC’s words: “All visitors are required to check in at the security desk upon entry into the building. Security will ask everyone in your group to sign in and show a picture I.D.” And: “If building management and/or building security determine that the floor the district office is located on has reached capacity, members of your party may be asked to wait in the food court on the ground floor until your hearing has concluded.”

What that means in practice: a relative who comes for support may spend the hearing in the food court. If someone is coming to testify, tell your attorney in advance.

What to bring:

• Your notice of hearing. It carries your case number and, for a conference, the video link.
• A picture ID for you and for each person with you.
• Every letter from the claims administratorClaims administrator / adjuster The person handling your claim for the insurer or self-insured employer. and every medical report on the issue being heard.
• Parking money. The free 90 minutes at the Market Street garage will not last the day.

Children should not be brought to court — the office says so, and there is no childcare. If you cannot arrange care, tell your attorney before the hearing date.

Filing in person. Riverside’s page is specific: “Items may be date stamped and filed in the clerk’s office located on the 3rd floor.” Keep your stamped copy; it is your proof of the filing date.

If you need an interpreter, you do not pay for it. The claims administrator pays for a certified interpreter at an Appeals Board hearing. If you have a lawyer, your lawyer arranges it. If you do not, the defendant must — the DWC’s own rule for unrepresented workers. Ask in writing, early.

If you have a disability, call the DWC’s district office accommodation coordinator at 1-866-681-1459. Requests for an assistive listening device or computerized translation are due at least five days before the hearing, and each hearing date needs its own request.

Remote by video: status conferences, mandatory settlement conferences, priority conferences, rating MSCs, and lien conferences.

In person: trials, lien trials, expedited hearings, and walk-throughs.

Walk-throughWalk-through Presenting a matter directly to a judge, usually for settlement approval. hours: the standard 8:00–11:00 a.m. and 1:00–4:00 p.m. window.

The video link is printed on your hearing notice. Each judge has a virtual courtroom on the CourtCall platform, and every courtroom also has a call-in number. It runs in a browser, with nothing to install. On a phone, turn off battery saving — the usual reason people drop out mid-hearing.

An in-person hearing can sometimes be held by video — only if the judge agrees. A party may petition the judge for a virtual hearing, and the DWC says those requests are decided case by case. Ask early; do not assume it.

Every DWC courtroom has public Wi-Fi, added when conferences moved to video in March 2025.

Most cases end at the mandatory settlement conferenceMSC Mandatory Settlement Conference. Where most cases end — and where discovery closes., and at this office it is held by video. It is also where discovery closes: evidence not disclosed by then is generally inadmissible at trial. Once either side files a Declaration of Readiness to ProceedDOR Declaration of Readiness to Proceed. Forces the calendar. You have 10 calendar days to object, or objections to proceeding on its issues are waived., these are the days that follow.

A case review is worth the most before the settlement conference, and much less afterward. After that date, what the file is missing stays missing.

Not every hearing needs a lawyer, and if yours does not, we will tell you on the phone. These are the moments at this office when one usually matters.

• A Declaration of Readiness arrived.

  The time to object is 10 calendar days from service. A party who does not object waives its objections to proceeding on the issues in it, absent extraordinary circumstances.

• Your settlement conference is set.

  Discovery closes that day, and a missing report, an un-deposed evaluator or an unclaimed body part becomes permanent at it.

• A settlement is ready to be walked through.

  A Compromise and ReleaseC&R — Compromise and Release A lump sum that closes future medical treatment permanently. can go before a judge here the same day, and it closes future medical care for a lump sum. Read it before it reaches the judge.

• Your case is set for trial.

  It is in person, at 3737 Main Street, so plan on a full day: photo ID for everyone in your group, and parking beyond the garage’s free 90 minutes.

• The heat made you sick at work.

  There is no heat illness presumption in California, so causation must be proved, and a regulatory violation is strong evidence.

• You need an interpreter.

  The claims administrator pays for a certified interpreter at a hearing. Without a lawyer, the defendant must arrange it, so ask in writing, early.

Call the same day if the claim was denied, you were fired or punished for filing, or more than a year has passed with nothing paid. Those involve deadlines that cannot be fixed once missed.

And when you probably do not need us. If the claim was accepted, treatment is being authorized, payments are arriving every two weeks, and there is no permanent impairment, you probably do not. For an accepted claim with a procedural question, Information & Assistance at this court is often the right first call, at no cost. We will tell you that on the phone, too.

Whatever is not on the exhibit list at the settlement conference does not come in at trial. So the work happens before it.

1. We read the file before the settlement conference. A missing supplemental report, an un-deposed evaluator, an unclaimed body part, an unraised apportionmentApportionment Dividing permanent disability between industrial and non-industrial causes. It is to disability, not to findings on an image. defect: each can be dealt with before that date, and becomes permanent at it.
2. We list every witness and every exhibit. The joint Pretrial Conference StatementPretrial Conference Statement The joint document listing issues, stipulations, proposed ratings, witnesses, and every exhibit. What is not on it does not come in. sets out the issues, the stipulations, each side’s proposed permanent disabilityPD Permanent Disability. Compensation for lasting impairment. A different and much lower weekly rate — 2026 maximum $290/week. rating, every witness, and every exhibit, with the author, date, and title of each document.
3. We prepare you for the day. Whether you will be on video or in this building, which session you are set in, photo ID for everyone with you, and what happens to a witness if the floor is full. If the facts are disputed, you will testify, briefly: tell the truth, answer only what is asked, do not guess, and describe your limits accurately, including the good days.
4. We watch the clocks after the decision. A Petition for ReconsiderationPetition for Reconsideration Appeal from a final order. 20 days. A non-final order takes a Petition for Removal instead. has 20 days, and only from a final order. A non-final order is challenged by Petition for Removal instead, and filing the wrong one wastes the deadline.

A walk-through puts a document in front of a judge the same day, with no Declaration of Readiness and no wait for a hearing date. It is the usual route for getting a settlement approved quickly. The rule is 8 CCR § 10789.

What can be walked through:

• a Compromise and Release
• 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.
• a petition for attorney’s fees for representing the worker at a deposition
• a petition to compel attendance at a medical examination or deposition
• a petition for costs

When: Riverside’s page gives 8:00–11:00 a.m. and 1:00–4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. First come, first served; there is no appointment system.

The one advance deadline: a settlement that opens a new case — one with no case number yet — must be submitted by noon the court day before. Every other walk-through document is brought on the day.

How it works: you check in with the staff member the presiding judge has designated, who assigns the document to a judge; then you appear before that judge. If that judge is unavailable, the presiding judge may reassign it. The judge can approve it, disapprove it, or take it for later review, so you may not leave with a signed award.

Only a Riverside case can be walked through here. A walk-through may be acted on only by a judge at the district office that has venue. A San Bernardino case goes to San Bernardino — except when the DWC itself says otherwise, as it did during that office’s 2024 closure.

Information & Assistance: (951) 782-4347. I&AI&A Information & Assistance officer. Free help with questions and forms at every district office. Underused. officers help injured workers, free, with questions, forms, and the steps of a claim, and they can hold an I&A conference with the claims administrator. An interpreter at an I&A conference is paid by the claims administrator too. I&A does not represent you, but for an accepted claim with a procedural question it is often the right first call. DIR does not publish I&A hours or say whether it takes walk-ins — call before you go. When you don’t need a lawyer.

Disability Evaluation UnitDEU Disability Evaluation Unit. Produces formal ratings from medical reports.: (951) 782-4345. The DEU turns a medical report’s impairment findings into a permanent disability rating; for an unrepresented worker, the rating on a QMEQME Qualified Medical Evaluator. A state-certified physician who resolves disputes. Unrepresented workers get a panel of three by random draw. report comes from here. How to read your report.

The DWC’s free workshops for injured workers are online, by Zoom, at 3 p.m. — the first Friday of each month in English, the third Friday in Spanish. Registration is required.

Cal/OSHA is in this building. Its Riverside District Office is in Suite 201, (951) 410-4250. The DWC decides benefits; Cal/OSHA enforces workplace safety — the agency to call about an unsafe job site. Unsafe work and your rights.

Riverside serves Riverside County by ZIP code — Riverside, Moreno Valley, Corona, Perris, Hemet, Temecula, Murrieta, Jurupa Valley, Banning, Beaumont, and the surrounding communities, extending toward the Coachella Valley — and, across the county line, Twentynine Palms (ZIP 92277) in San Bernardino County, which the DWC’s ZIP code list sends here rather than to San Bernardino.

The docket: warehouse and distribution, truck and delivery driving, agriculture and field work, food processing and packing, construction, healthcare, landscaping and tree care, casino and gaming, and staffing agency placements.

Heat is a first-order issue. Outdoor work runs against 8 CCR § 3395 — shade above 80°F, high-heat procedures at 95°F, with agriculture, construction, and landscaping among the named industries. Indoor work has been covered by § 3396 since July 23, 2024.

And there is no heat illness presumption in California — AB 1336 would have created one and was vetoed on October 13, 2025. Causation must be proved; a regulatory violation is strong evidence. Heat illness claims.

The ZIP code locator is a convenience; the statute is county-based. The law lets an Application for Adjudication be filed in the county where you live, the county where the injury happened (in a cumulative trauma case, where the last injurious exposure was), or — if you have a lawyer — the county of your attorney’s principal place of business. The law requires your written consent to the venue chosen.

Take a worker who crosses a county line to work. Say you live in Corona and were injured on a job in Anaheim. The application can go to Riverside County, where you live, or to Orange County, where you were hurt — and Orange County has two district offices, Santa Ana and Anaheim; the law allows filing at either, and in practice the ZIP code locator decides which one. Either county is allowed; weigh the drive, because trials and expedited hearings are in person.

If the attorney’s county is used, the employer can reverse it. It has 30 days from receiving notice of the case number and venue to object, and a timely objection sends the case to where you live or where you were hurt.

After that, venue changes only for good cause. A petition must state its reasons specifically — and, if it is for the convenience of witnesses, their names, addresses, and what they would say. It is filed at the office that has venue now; objections are due within 10 days, and the presiding judge rules, or sets a conference, within 30 days.

The rest of this page is for the morning of a hearing. This part is for deciding whether to call a lawyer whose office is in Los Angeles.

Our office is at 1625 W. Olympic Blvd, Suite 802, Los Angeles. We do not have an office in Riverside. In practice: the consultation is a phone call, free, in English, Spanish or Korean; the case is handled by phone, mail and e-filing; and your hearings are not in Los Angeles. They are at this court, 3737 Main Street. Most conferences are held by video, with the link on your notice. Trials, expedited hearings and walk-throughs are in person here, and we appear here for our clients. If you cannot travel, we make home and hospital visits across the four counties we serve. Say so when you call.

The city’s work is not the region’s. Our Inland Empire page counts the region’s warehouse jobs; inside the city, the largest employers are the county, two school districts, a hospital and a university.

For a Riverside resident, venue is usually simple. The law allows the county where you live, and the DWC’s list puts the whole city at this office. If you were hurt in another county, at a distribution center in Fontana, say, that county is allowed too, and the choice is yours, in writing. Our county, Los Angeles, is also permitted, but the employer has 30 days to object, and for someone who lives here it adds a drive on the in-person days. “How a case lands,” above, has the rest.

The city’s claims follow its payroll. Nurses, aides and technicians: healthcare. Teachers, aides, custodians and bus drivers at Riverside Unified, Alvord Unified and the college: school employees. Masonry, framing and site work: construction. And transportation and warehousing, 8.7% of employed residents, still brings in warehouse, truck and delivery and staffing agency cases. The claim that builds over months, the cumulative trauma claim, is the one that goes unfiled.

Among Riverside residents five and older, one in six speaks English less than “very well.” You are entitled to an interpreter at no cost at treatment, at medical-legal exams, at depositions and at hearings. Your interpreter rights. Consultas gratis en español. Esta oficina, en español. · 한국어 무료 상담. 한국어 안내.

This is a Riverside County office. Across the county, 35.0% of residents five and older speak Spanish at home, 8,374 speak Korean, and 14.6% speak English less than “very well” (American Community Survey, 2020–2024). Those are the workers the interpreter rules above protect — and the reason we take calls in English, Spanish, and Korean.

Riverside has stood in for its neighbor. Riverside and San Bernardino counties share one metro area, and when the San Bernardino office closed for air-conditioning repairs in July 2024, the DWC sent that office’s in-person filings and walk-throughs here or to Pomona.

Valley fever reaches this docket too. The California Department of Public Health says people who work outdoors “in California’s Central Valley, Central Coast, and other locations, especially workers who dig or disturb soil, are at risk,” and it counted 465 confirmed cases in Riverside County in 2024 — relevant to the construction and farm work heard here.

All of Riverside County.

By train: the DWC puts Metrolink’s Riverside-Downtown station (4066 Vine Street) about a mile away. Metrolink lists three lines there: Riverside, 91/Perris Valley, and Inland Empire-Orange County.

By bus: the DWC’s page links to Riverside Transit Agency and still names Route 50, the “Jury Trolley.” RTA’s current route list has no Route 50, and we could not tie any RTA stop to 3737 Main Street. Check RTA’s schedules before the morning of a trial.

By car: the DWC’s directions end at the entrance to the California Tower. The Market Street garage is between University and Mission Inn Boulevard; the small lot is on University at the Main Street light.

A case review is worth the most before the settlement conference, and much less afterward. Tell us when your case is set at this office, and we will tell you what to expect here, down to who in your group may wait in the food court. The first call is free and takes about fifteen minutes, in English, Spanish, or Korean. There is no fee unless we recover, and you are not responsible for costs we advance if there is no recovery.