Your California workers’ compensation case ended in an award. Later, the injury gets worse: the doctor changes your restrictions, you lose more work, or a medical report describes a change. Does “the case is closed” end the conversation?
Not necessarily. A petition to reopen may be an option, but the original injury date, the medical evidence, and the exact award or settlement matter. For workers in Downey and throughout Los Angeles County, the useful first step is to compare the old record with what has changed—not assume that more pain automatically means more benefits.
This is general information, not legal or medical advice. Do not use this article or its worksheet to calculate your deadline or file a petition. Seek prompt individual review, especially if the injury occurred several years ago.
First, identify what actually resolved the case
Find the signed agreement and the judge’s order, including every attachment. “I got a settlement check” does not identify which rights remain.
DWC’s settlement guidance distinguishes Stipulations with Request for Award from a Compromise and Release (C&R). Stipulations commonly address disability payments and leave medical care available under the award. If a C&R includes future medical costs, the claims administrator no longer pays your doctor for that resolved care.
A Findings and Award also needs to be read on its own terms. Do not assume a petition to reopen restores rights released by an approved C&R. Challenging a release is a different, fact-specific question; worsening symptoms alone should not be treated as undoing it. Our settlement-approval article explains that separate review process.
Five years generally starts with the injury—not the award
Labor Code section 5410 permits proceedings within five years after the injury when the original injury caused new and further disability. Section 5804 separately limits changes to awards after five years, while preserving specified timely-petition procedures.
The practical warning: do not count five years from the settlement check, the award date, or the latest appointment. A timely petition can permit a later decision, but timely filing alone does not establish additional benefits. When the worsening occurred and how it relates to the original injury also require review.
If the date of injury is disputed, involves cumulative trauma, or the five-year point may have passed, get advice rather than deciding the answer yourself. Continuing treatment rights under an existing award are not the same as reopening for increased disability. Do not assume the five-year framework automatically ends medical care already awarded.
Show what changed in the medical record
DWC’s reopening guide recommends obtaining a doctor’s report explaining that the condition worsened, along with other supporting facts. The guide is for disability that has worsened after a judge issued an award.
Compare:
- Then: the medical report supporting the award, findings, restrictions, disability rating, and future-care terms.
- Now: dated examination reports, changed findings, updated restrictions, treatment recommendations, and actual missed work.
- Between: when the change began, what you reported, later work activities, and any later work or nonwork injury.
Tell the doctor accurately what changed. Ask whether the report addresses the change and its relationship to the original injury. Do not hide later events, rewrite a report, or substitute your own diagnosis for a medical opinion. A later injury may raise a separate claim question rather than simply reopen the earlier case.
Seek emergency care for an emergency. This record exercise must not delay needed medical care.
A call to the adjuster is not the filing record
Section 5803 requires good cause and an opportunity for the parties to be heard before an award is changed. WCAB Rule 10534 requires specific, detailed facts supporting good cause in a petition invoking that jurisdiction.
Save adjuster messages, but do not rely on “we are reviewing it” as proof that a petition was filed. DWC’s guide describes a petition, verification, filing documents, service on the parties, and retaining copies. Ask your attorney—or the DWC Information and Assistance Unit if unrepresented—about the proper procedure for your case. Do not wait for a complete packet or a callback before seeking deadline advice.
Keep treatment disputes separate
A request for more disability benefits, an authorization request for treatment, and a challenge to a treatment denial are not interchangeable. Save the entire notice, its envelope or electronic delivery record, and any stated response deadline. A reopening discussion does not replace UR/IMR treatment-review steps.
Nor does reopening automatically restart temporary disability payments, raise a rating, or undo a settlement. Each requested benefit has its own evidence and legal requirements.
Bring a before-and-after packet to WCLG
Bring the complete award or settlement, original medical reports, current reports, a short dated account of the change, work-status slips, wage records, notices, and any prior petition with filing and service proof. The companion worksheet organizes those records; it is not a court form, an appeal, or a deadline extension. Keep the completed sheet private.
Workers’ Compensation Law Group can discuss California workers’ compensation questions with injured workers in Downey, the Gateway Cities, and Los Angeles County. Call (562) 608-8870 for a free consultation about the actual documents and dates. Contacting WCLG does not by itself create an attorney-client relationship.
Official sources
Sources linked above were checked September 28, 2026. This is an educational guide, not an announcement of a new law. DWC’s reopening guide is general procedural guidance; the governing law, medical evidence, and case history control individual questions.