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The Retraining and Return to Work (RRTW) Unit assists employers who are trying to bring injured employees back to work and resolves disputes over supplemental job displacement benefits. According to the RAND Corporation, both employers and injured workers benefit when employees return to work quickly following a workplace injury: Injured workers recover from their injuries faster and suffer less wage loss and employers maintain the value of the investment they've made in their employees by bringing them back to the job as soon as medically possible.
That's why workers' comp reforms emphasize sound medical treatment and early return to work. It's also why the state developed an incentive program that helps small employers by providing up to $2,500 in reimbursements for dollars spent on workplace modifications that bring an injured employee back to the job. Specifically, an employer whose worker was injured on or after July 1, 2004, and who had 50 or fewer full time employees at the time, may qualify for reimbursement of up to:
(1) $1,250 in expenses incurred to allow a temporarily disabled employee to perform modified or alternative work within physician-imposed temporary work restrictions while recovering
(2) $2,500 in expenses incurred to bring a permanently disabled employee back to sustained modified or alternative work within physician-imposed permanent work restrictions.
Another section of the return to work regulations provides an incentive for employers with 50 or more employees to bring injured workers back to the job. Employers with 50 or more workers who offer injured employees regular, modified or alternative work will pay 15 percent lower weekly permanent disability benefits once the offer is made. Conversely, employers with 50 or more workers who don't make a return to work offer will pay 15 percent more in weekly permanent disability benefits.
More information on the return to work program:
Small employers encouraged to tap into return to work reimbursement fund
Return to work program up and running!
Sometimes, an employee suffers residual effects from their injury and cannot return to work. Those employees may be entitled to supplemental job displacement benefits (SJDB).
Employees injured on or after Jan. 1, 2004, who are permanently unable to do their usual job, and whose employer does not offer other work, may qualify for this benefit. It is in the form of a voucher that helps pay for educational retraining or skill enhancement, or both, at state-approved or state-accredited schools.
The law (Labor Code section 4658.5) says that employees who do not return to work for their employer within 60 days of the end of temporary disability payments will receive a voucher. The amount of the voucher is based on the percentage of the injured worker's disability:
| Permanent partial disability of less than 15 percent | = $4,000 voucher |
| Permanent partial disability between 15 and 25 percent | = $6,000 voucher |
| Permanent partial disability between 26 and 49 percent | = $8,000 voucher |
| Permanent partial disability between 50 and 99 percent | = $10,000 voucher |
The voucher must be used at state approved or accredited schools for education or skill enhancement, or both. Employees may use up to 10 percent of the voucher funds for counseling.
The law (Labor Code section 4658.6) also says that an employer will not be liable for providing the supplemental job displacement benefit to an employee if, within 30 days of the end of temporary disability payments, an offer of modified or alternative work is made, and the employee rejects or fails to accept the offer in the form and manner prescribed by the Division of Workers' Compensation administrative director.
Employees injured on the job before Jan. 1, 2004, who are permanently unable to do their usual job, and whose employer does not offer other work, may still qualify for vocational rehabilitation benefits.
Information related to vocational rehabilitation:
- Title 8, California Code of Regulations, article 7, vocational rehabilitation sections 10122 - 10133.4
- Title 8, California Code of Regulations, section 10132.1 (sets forth a fee schedule for specific services provided within the $16,000 cap established for rehabilitation services by the 1993 reforms)
- Vocational rehabilitation pamphlet for injuries prior to 2004
- California standards regarding the timeliness and quality of rehabilitation services
- Rehabilitation Unit administrative guidelines
- Rehabilitation Unit venue list
- Independent vocational evaluator list - November 2006
- Independent vocational evaluator application and procedures for applying version
Retraining and Return to Work Unit forms
DWC Retraining and Return to Work Unit offices
| Anaheim 1661 North Raymond Avenue, Room 202 Anaheim, CA 92801 (714) 738-4046 |
Marina del Rey 4720 Lincoln Blvd Marina del Rey, CA 90292 (310) 482-3858 |
San Bernardino 464 W. Fourth Street, Suite 239 San Bernardino, CA 92401 (909) 383-4073 |
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Bakersfield
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Oakland 1515 Clay Street, 6th floor Oakland, CA 94612 (510) 622-2860 |
San Diego 7575 Metropolitan Dr., Suite 202 San Diego, CA 92108-4402 (619) 767-2085 |
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Eureka
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Oxnard 2220 E. Gonzales Road, Suite 100 Oxnard, CA 93030 (805) 485-3144 |
San Francisco 455 Golden Gate Avenue, 2nd floor San Francisco, CA 94102 (415) 703-5031 |
| Fresno 2550 Mariposa Street, #2035 Fresno, CA 93721 (559) 445-5066 |
Pomona 732 Corporate Center Drive Pomona, CA 91768 (909) 623-8767 |
San Jose 100 Paseo de San Antonio, Room 240 San Jose, CA 95113 (408) 277-1102 |
| Goleta 6755 Hollister Avenue, Suite 100 Goleta, CA 93117 (805) 968-7678 |
Redding 2115 Civic Center Drive, Room 8D Redding, CA 96001 (530) 225-2659 |
Santa Ana 28 Civic Center Plaza, #451 Santa Ana, CA 92701 (714) 558-4581 |
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Grover Beach
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Riverside 3737 Main Street, 3rd floor Riverside, CA 92501 (951) 782-4867 |
Santa Rosa |
| Long Beach 300 Ocean Gate, Room 325 Long Beach, CA 90802 (562) 590-5033 |
Sacramento 2424 Arden Way, Suite 395 Sacramento, CA 95825 (916) 263-2930 |
Stockton To be handled by Sacramento |
| Los Angeles 320 W. 4th Street, 9th floor Los Angeles, CA 90013 (213) 576-7397 |
Salinas
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Van Nuys 6150 Van Nuys Blvd, #215 Van Nuys, CA 91401 (818) 901-5367 |
April 2008