One page, a handful of boxes, and more downstream consequence than any other document in the claim. The DWC-1 is where a workers’ comp case legally begins — and where several of its later fights are quietly won or lost.
What filing actually triggers
Your employer owes you the form within one working day of notice (§5401). Returning it starts the machinery: the administrator’s 90-day accept-or-deny clock, the presumption of compensability if they blow it, and up to $10,000 of treatment authorized while they decide (§5402) — a right that exists only once the form is in. Unfiled “claims” are conversations; the DWC-1 is a claim.
The boxes that matter
Name, date, employer — mechanical. Two boxes deserve care. Body parts: list everything symptomatic, including radiating complaints — the early list gets treated and rated; late additions fight uphill forever. Date of injury: for an accident, the date; for cumulative trauma, the §5412 rules apply and the honest answer may be a period (“through last day worked”) — don’t guess a single date that boxes the claim in. Keep a copy of the signed form; the employer completes their section and sends it to the carrier.
DWC-1 vs. the Application
The DWC-1 opens the benefits claim. The Application for Adjudication opens the WCAB case — the forum where disputes get decided, with its own one-year clock (§5405). Accepted, smoothly-paying claims may never need the second document; a denial always does. From there the path runs through the QME, the rating, and the math.
Estimates for informational use; not legal advice.
Rate your spine right here
Same engine as the tables above — pick your occupation and age, slide the WPI from the report, and carry it into the full calculator when you’re ready.