California workers’ comp insurance provides six basic benefits:
- Medical care: Paid for by your employer to help you recover from an injury or illness caused by work
- Temporary disability benefits: Payments if you lose wages because your injury prevents you from doing your usual job while recovering
- Permanent disability benefits: Payments if you don’t recover completely
- Vocational rehabilitation (if your date of injury is before 2004): Job placement counseling and possibly retraining if you are unable to return to your old job and your employer doesn’t offer other work
- Supplemental job displacement benefits (if your date of injury is in 2004 or later): Vouchers to help pay for retraining or skill enhancement if you don’t recover completely and don’t return to work for your employer
- Death benefits: Payments to your spouse, children or other dependents if you die from a job injury or illness.
