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Bob Young
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For Press Release:

California Workers’ Comp Fact Sheets Now Available in Spanish

At the end of last year, the California Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) adopted new regulations governing benefit notices that claims administrators must provide to injured workers (www.dir.ca.gov/dwc/DWCPropRegs/BenefitNoticeRegulations/BNU_FinalRegulations.doc). The regulations took effect April 9, 2008.

Included in the regulations is a new requirement that California workers’ compensation claims administrators send “DWC fact sheets” along with notice letters that go out at various points in the life of a claim. These include fact sheets on temporary disability benefits, permanent disability benefits, and on the Agreed Medical Evaluator/ Qualified Medical Evaluator process for resolving medical disputes.

The regulations [CCR 9810(i)] also require that “All benefit notices shall be made available in English and Spanish, as appropriate.” While the DWC posted English versions of the fact sheets on its website (www.dir.ca.gov/dwc/iwguides.html) prior to the April 9 effective date, Spanish versions were not posted until recently.

California workers’ compensation claims administrators may now download a Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat file of a Spanish fact sheet (Hoja de información) from the Injured Worker Guides section of the DWC website: www.dir.ca.gov/dwc/iwguides_Spanish.html.

• The Spanish version of the Temporary Disability fact sheet is: Hoja de información C “Respuestas a sus preguntas sobre los beneficios de incapacidad temporal

• The Spanish version of the Permanent Disability fact sheet is: Hoja de información D “Respuestas a sus preguntas sobre los beneficios de incapacidad permanente

• The Spanish version of the AME/QME fact sheet is: Hoja de información E
Respuestas a sus preguntas sobre evaluadores médicos calificados y evaluadores médicos acordados