DWC Emergency Regulations for Medical-Legal Evaluations in Response to COVID-19 in Effect through January 18, 2023

The Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) announces its emergency regulations 46.3 for medical-legal evaluations utilizing telehealth and office location flexibility resulting from various state and local public health safety measures related to COVID-19, which became effective on January 18, 2022 and was set to expire in October 18, 2022, has been extended until January 18, 2023.

This is DWC’s second and final re-adoption in accordance with Government Code section 11346.1(h).

The Division has commenced rulemaking to make this regulation permanent. These documents can be found on the DWC website.

These emergency regulations help injured workers and employers continue to move their workers’ compensation claims toward a resolution and avoid additional and undue delay by addressing how medical-legal evaluations may proceed during this emergency period.

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Office Name	Topic	Phone Numbers
Cal/OSHA	Workplace Safety and Health	833-579-0927
Labor Commissioner's Office	Wages, breaks, retaliation and labor laws	833-526-4636
Division of Workers' Compensation	Benefits for work-related injuries and illnesses	1-800-736-7401
Office of the Director	Any other topic related to the Department of Industrial Relations	844-522-6734