Van Nuys WCAB District Office

The street meters near the building are a 2-hour maximum.

A trial, an expedited hearing or a walk-throughWalk-through Presenting a matter directly to a judge, usually for settlement approval. wait is very often longer than two hours. Do not park at a 2-hour meter.

Metered parking on Calvert Street, just east of the building, allows up to 10 hours, and DIR lists Calvert Street at $10 a day. That is the right answer. The state building structure is $9 a day but limited.

Transit. Metro G Line (Orange) — but its Van Nuys station is closed for construction until 2027. Metro runs a temporary G Line stop at Van Nuys Blvd and Oxnard Street. The Valley’s transit spine runs past this office, which makes it one of the more reachable venues without a car.

Filing is at the information desk in the lobby.

Your hearing notice gives a session, not a time. Cases are set in the morning or afternoon block and called in turn. Plan on half a day for anything in person, and a full day for a trial.

What to bring:

• Your notice of hearing. It carries your case number and, for a conference, the video link.
• Government photo ID. DIR publishes no screening or check-in procedure for this building, but the San Bernardino and Riverside offices require photo ID at the door. Bring it.
• 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.

Food: DIR lists a café on the first floor of the state building.

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

Filing in person. The information desk in the lobby date-stamps and files documents. 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 — that is the DWCDWC Division of Workers’ Compensation, part of the Department of Industrial Relations. Administers the system. Information Services Center: 1-800-736-7401.’s own rule for unrepresented workers. Ask in writing, as early as you can.

If you have a disability, the DWC’s district office accommodation coordinator is at 1-866-681-1459. Ask at least five days before the hearing for an assistive listening device or computerized translation, and make a separate request for each hearing date.

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-through hours: the standard 8:00–11:00 a.m. and 1:00–4:00 p.m. window.

The video link is 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; nothing to install. On a phone, turn off battery saving — it is the usual reason people drop out mid-hearing.

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

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

The Mandatory Settlement ConferenceMSC Mandatory Settlement Conference. Where most cases end — and where discovery closes., and not because most cases settle there — though most do.

Because discovery closes there. Under § 5502(d)(3), “evidence not disclosed or obtained thereafter shall not be admissible unless the proponent… can demonstrate that it was not available or could not have been discovered by the exercise of due diligence prior to the settlement conference.”

A missing supplemental report, an un-deposed evaluator, an unclaimed body part, or an unraised apportionmentApportionment Dividing permanent disability between industrial and non-industrial causes. It is to disability, not to findings on an image. defect becomes permanent at that conference. Why.

And note the ten-day rule that gets you there: a party served with a Declaration of Readiness who does not object within 10 calendar days “shall be deemed to have waived any and all objections to proceeding on the issues specified in the declaration, absent extraordinary circumstances.”

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. At this office the settlement conference is held by video.

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, in this building, and very often longer than two hours. It is not decided from the bench.

• 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, as early as you can.

• Your case is here, and you live or were hurt in another county.

  After filing, venue moves only for good cause, and a petition must set out the reasons specifically.

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. Information & Assistance is in this building, and it answers questions and helps with forms 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 apportionment 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, and where to park so a 2-hour meter does not end your morning. 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, without a Declaration of Readiness and without waiting for a hearing to be set. 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: 8:00–11:00 a.m. and 1:00–4:00 p.m. on court days, first come, first served, with no appointment system. DIR’s Van Nuys page does not print walk-through hours; these are the hours § 10789(c) sets for every district office.

The one advance deadline: a settlement that opens a new case — there is no case number yet — must be submitted by noon the court day before. Every other walk-through document comes with you 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, and 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 — you will not always leave with a signed award.

In person only — DWC ended virtual walk-throughs in September 2022.

Van Nuys can act only on a Van Nuys case. A walk-through may be acted on only by a judge at the district office that has venue. If your case is venued in Marina del Rey, the walk-through happens there.

Information & Assistance: (818) 901-5367 — the office’s main number; DIR lists I&AI&A Information & Assistance officer. Free help with questions and forms at every district office. Underused. in Room 105. I&A 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 cannot represent you. DIR publishes no I&A hours and does not say whether it takes walk-ins, so call before you go. When you don’t need a lawyer.

Disability Evaluation UnitDEU Disability Evaluation Unit. Produces formal ratings from medical reports.: Room 200, (818) 901-5367. The DEU turns a medical report’s impairment findings into a permanent disability rating. DIR warns that DEU offices do not all follow the ZIP code locator; its separate DEU locator finds the unit for your area. How to read your report.

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

Cal/OSHA is in this building: its Van Nuys District Office, Suite 405, (818) 901-5403. The DWC decides benefits; Cal/OSHA enforces safety. DIR’s lookup matches your job site’s city or ZIP code to the Cal/OSHA office that covers it, which may not be this one. Unsafe work and your rights.

The Van Nuys office serves the San Fernando Valley, by ZIP code — Van Nuys, North Hollywood, Sherman Oaks, Encino, Reseda, Canoga Park, Northridge, Panorama City, Sun Valley, Sylmar, Burbank-adjacent communities, and the surrounding area.

The claims reflect the Valley’s economy: film and television production, healthcare, warehouse and distribution, delivery driving, auto repair and body shops, construction, restaurants, and janitorial work.

More on Valley claims.

The ZIP code locator is a convenience; the statute is county-based. The law lets an Application for AdjudicationApplication for Adjudication Opens your case at the Appeals Board. One year. 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.

Los Angeles County has several district offices, and inside the county the locator is what sends a Valley address to Van Nuys. A county line changes the options. A worker who lives in Van Nuys and was hurt on a job in another county may file in Los Angeles County, where they live, or in the county where the injury happened. Either is allowed. Choose knowingly, because trials are held in person at whichever office has the case.

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

After that, venue moves only for good cause. A petition must set out the 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 currently has venue; objections are due within 10 days, and the presiding judge rules, or sets a conference, within 30 days.

Van Nuys is a Los Angeles County office. In the county as a whole, 37.6% of residents five and older speak Spanish at home, 156,737 speak Korean, and 23.4% speak English less than “very well” (American Community Survey, 2020–2024). Nearly one resident in four — that is who the interpreter rules above protect, and why we take calls in English, Spanish, and Korean.

Wildfire smoke has its own workplace rule. In January 2025, Cal/OSHA warned that fires were affecting air quality throughout Los Angeles County, and a later alert that month covered the county again. Once the Air Quality Index for fine particles (PM2.5) reaches 151, an employer who should expect smoke exposure must provide respirators and encourage their use; above 500, respirators are required.

All of Los Angeles County.

By Metro: Metro renamed the Orange Line the G Line, and closed its Van Nuys station on February 21, 2025, to build a new elevated station. Metro says it will stay closed until 2027. A temporary G Line stop at Van Nuys Blvd and Oxnard Street replaces it. DIR’s page still describes the walk from the old station, and Metro does not publish the distance from the temporary stop, so check the walk before the day of a trial.

By bus: Metro Line 233 (West LA – Lakeview Terrace) and Line 761 (West Los Angeles – Sylmar) both run on Van Nuys Blvd. Metro does not name a stop for 6150 Van Nuys Blvd.

One broken link: the “Metro bus routes” link on DIR’s Van Nuys page goes to Houston’s transit agency. LA Metro is metro.net.

Parking: the state building structure, $9 a day, limited; a private lot next to the building (DIR gives no price); 2-hour meters around the building; and meters of up to 10 hours on Calvert Street, which DIR lists at $10 a day.

The firm appears at district offices throughout Southern California, and our own office is in Los Angeles, at 1625 W. Olympic Blvd. If your case is set here, ask on the call — the answer will be specific.

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 where to park. 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.