1. Workers' Compensation Appeals Board

Petitions - where to file

Notice: the WCAB emergency email box is no longer in operation. Please direct all email to appropriate email addresses as follows:

  • ControlUnit@dir.ca.gov (Processing petitions for reconsideration/removal and Reports, including inquiries about cases where no order by the Appeals Board has issued, where a petition for removal or reconsideration has been withdrawn, and/or where a settlement has been reached)
  • WCABgrantforstudy@dir.ca.gov (Cases pending on reconsideration with the Appeals Board, where an interim order by the Appeals Board has already issued)
  • WCABArbitration@dir.ca.gov (Cases pending on arbitration and for submission of documents)
  • WCABMediation@dir.ca.gov (Cases pending in mediation and for requests to mediate)
  • WCABWritUnit@dir.ca.gov (Pending writs and for service of writ documents)

No responses will be provided to emails about the merits of a pending case (see Cal. Code Regs., tit. 8, § 10964), or challenging an interim order or a final decision by the Appeals Board (see Lab. Code, §§ 5900, et seq., and 5950, et seq.).

Filing of Petitions for Reconsideration, Removal, or Disqualification

Except as provided in WCAB Rules 10990 and 10590, petitions for reconsideration, removal, or disqualification and answers thereto must be filed in the Electronic Adjudication Management System (EAMS) or with the district office having venue. Petitions and other pleadings and/or duplicate copies of petitions and other pleadings may not be filed with the Appeals Board and will not be considered.

Petitions for reconsideration and other pleadings in “carve-out” cases (see Rule 10990) and petitions appealing Labor Code section 129.5(g) audit penalty assessments and related pleadings (see Rule 10590) shall be filed only with the Appeals Board at the address below.

The Appeals Board's address and location is as follows:

Workers' Compensation Appeals Board
455 Golden Gate Avenue, 9th Floor
San Francisco CA 94102

*To view addresses of various DWC district offices located throughout the state, click on the name of the office in the list below: DWC district offices

Petition for Writ of Review (Labor Code section 5950, et seq.)

A party aggrieved by a final decision of the Appeals Board may apply to the court of appeal for the appellate district in which the party resides for a writ of review.

The Appeals Board is a respondent and therefore a party to any workers’ compensation writ matters. Thus, the Appeals Board must be served as a respondent and party in all workers’ compensation writ matters and be included in any meet and confer related to stipulations, etc., involving any workers’ compensation writ matters. Service on the Appeals Board by email at WCABWritUnit@dir.ca.gov is preferred, although service may be made by mail at the above address

September 2023