What is Workers' Compensation?
“[Workers' Compensation benefits are] designed to provide you with the medical treatment you need to recover from your work-related injury or illness, partially replace the wages you lose while you are recovering, and help you return to work”. -- State Department of Industrial Relations
At CSUSB, all employees are entitled to Workers’ Compensation benefits upon compliance with established procedures. For questions related to the below best practices, please contact the university’s Workers’ Compensation Specialist.
Employee Procedures & Best Practices
The Office of Risk Management is here to help and has identified the below best practices to guide you through the process. The workers’ compensation process begins with notifying the university of a work-related illness or injury, filing a claim with the university’s third-party claims administrator (Sedgwick), and continuing to follow-up with your supervisor and Risk Management to determine a return-to-work options.
When CSUSB is notified of a work-related injury or accident, the Workers’ Compensation Specialist will contact you and may mail information to the address on file with Human Resources.
Report any workplace injury or illness to your supervisor or next level administrator, immediately. If your injury or illness developed gradually (like tendonitis or hearing loss), report it as soon as you learn it was caused by your job. Reporting promptly helps prevent delays in receiving benefits, including medical care you may need to avoid further injury.
For emergencies, call 911 from a cell phone or campus phone. For non-emergency injuries, contact Risk Management to receive an Authorization for Medical Treatment form before you arrive to one of the approved medical facilities.
Your supervisor will provide you with the Workers’ Compensation Claim (DWC-1) Form within 24 hours of learning about your injury or illness. If you do not receive the form within 24 hours of your reported incident, visit the Office of Risk Management (ES-105) for a paper copy or download the DWC-1 form from this website. This form is what you will use to request workers' compensation benefits. Be sure to read the benefit information, then fill out and sign the employee portion of the claim form and describe your injury completely. Include every part of your body affected by the injury. The completed form will be sent to the Office of Risk Management.
Note: Your supervisor may ask you for details to fill out a Supervisors Injury and Illness Report and provide you with the DWC-1 Form.
We want to continue to ensure that CSUSB is a place that prioritizes employee safety. Your participation in a follow up report by your supervisor and Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) will help the university identify the cause of the incident or injury to prevent others from re-injury or getting hurt. Accident investigations can uncover hazardous equipment, materials, or processes that need to be changed. If your physician places you on Total Temporary Disability (TTD), you may be asked to respond to inquiries from Risk Management.
You are expected to keep medical and therapy appointments or promptly notify the medical facility and supervisor and Workers' Compensation Specialist of schedule changes.
After treatment by a doctor, clinic, or hospital, you are responsible for reporting your return-to-work status to your immediate supervisor. Send the Office of Risk Management your health provider’s statement certifying your work-related illness or injury, your restrictions to work, and the expected duration of the restriction. You should maintain accurate records of visits to medical facilities and time away from the job to assist with wage adjustments.
Upon the submission of a medical certification that you are able to return to work, you will be reinstated in accordance with applicable law. If you are disabled due to an work-related injury, the university will attempt to accommodate you based off medical restrictions set by your primary physician.
State employees have a coordinated income benefits program. Eligible workers' compensation claims have payment options to cover lost wages due to an injury. Take time to understand the limitations of these options and contact the Benefits section of Human Resources to learn about other payment options that may be available.
We are your partner and can answer questions that you have. We work with HR, EH&S, and management to facilitate recovery.