A workers’ comp judge’s decision doesn’t have to be the last word, but the way to challenge it runs through the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board first, on a petition for reconsideration. Labor Code §5900(a) gives the right to “[a]ny person aggrieved directly or indirectly by any final order, decision, or award made and filed by the appeals board or a workers’ compensation judge” — reconsideration of the matters the decision determined or covered and the petition specifies — and adds that “[t]he petition shall be made only within the time and in the manner specified in this chapter.” It is also the door to the courts: no cause of action arising out of a final order, decision, or award accrues in any court until the board, on its own motion, sets the decision aside and removes the proceeding to itself, or a petition for reconsideration is filed and granted or denied (§5901).
Final orders only — and what “final” means
Reconsideration reaches a final order, decision, or award (§5900(a)), and final doesn’t mean the end of the case. In Maranian v. Workers’ Comp. Appeals Bd. (2000) 81 Cal.App.4th 1068, the Court of Appeal put it this way: a final order “includes any order which settles, for purposes of the compensation proceeding, an issue critical to the claim for benefits, whether or not it resolves all the issues in the proceeding or represents a decision on the right to benefits” (p. 1075). Its examples, quoted from a leading treatise, include orders deciding threshold issues — the board’s territorial jurisdiction, whether there was an employment relationship, the statute of limitations — and orders dismissing a party, rejecting an affirmative defense, granting commutation, terminating liability, or deciding whether the employer provided compensation coverage. On the other side of the line, “interim orders, which do not decide a threshold issue, such as intermediate procedural or evidentiary decisions, are not ‘final’ for purposes of section 5900.”
The label has consequences. The court noted that failing to petition on time from a final order “bars later challenge to the propriety of the order before the WCAB or before the courts” (p. 1076). For a ruling that isn’t final but can’t wait, the WCAB’s rules provide a different petition, removal (8 CCR §10955). It’s due within 20 days after service of the order or decision, or after the action at issue occurred; it must show that the order, decision, or action will result in significant prejudice or irreparable harm; and the petitioner “must also demonstrate that reconsideration will not be an adequate remedy after the issuance of a final order, decision or award” (§10955(a)). If the judge rescinds the order, or acts to resolve the issue, within 15 days of the filing, the petition is deemed automatically dismissed (§10955(d)). Filing one doesn’t end the judge’s authority to proceed, or require a scheduled hearing to be continued or canceled, absent direction from the Appeals Board (§10955(e)).
The 20-day deadline
Section 5903 sets the clock: a petition may be filed “[a]t any time within 20 days after the service of any final order, decision, or award.” The count excludes the day of service and includes the last day (Code of Civil Procedure §12; 8 CCR §10600(a)), and the WCAB’s rules settle the rest. Service by mail, fax, e-mail, or any method other than personal service extends the period by five calendar days when the address of the party, attorney, or agent being served is in California, ten when it’s elsewhere in the United States, and twenty when it’s outside the United States — measured by the street address or post office box in the board’s Official Address Record, even if the decision actually went out by fax or e-mail (8 CCR §10605). If the last day falls on a weekend, or on a holiday when the board’s offices are closed, the petition may be filed on the next business day (§10600(b)). And filing means receipt: a document received before 5:00 p.m. on a court day is filed that day, and one received after 5:00 p.m. is filed as of the next court day (8 CCR §10615(b)).
The Supreme Court has described this deadline as jurisdictional. In Mayor v. Workers’ Comp. Appeals Bd. (Aug. 24, 2026, S287261) — the case on the board’s own 60-day deadline, below — it contrasted that deadline with the parties’: “the plain language of sections 5900, subdivision (a) and 5950 ‘include such clear markers of legislative intent that their respective deadlines are jurisdictional.’” Two other paths to changing a decision run on their own timing. Before a petition is filed, the trial judge may correct the decision for clerical, mathematical, or procedural error, or amend it for good cause, within the limits of §§5803–5804 (8 CCR §10966). And the Appeals Board may grant reconsideration on its own motion “[a]t any time within 60 days after the filing of an order, decision, or award made by a workers’ compensation judge and the accompanying report” (§5900(b)).
Five grounds, and no other
Section 5903 limits a petition to “one or more of the following grounds and no other”: (a) that by the order, decision, or award, the appeals board acted without or in excess of its powers; (b) that the order, decision, or award was procured by fraud; (c) that the evidence does not justify the findings of fact; (d) that the petitioner has discovered new evidence material to them that they could not, with reasonable diligence, have discovered and produced at the hearing; and (e) that the findings of fact do not support the order, decision, or award. The section closes by saying that nothing in it limits the board’s continuing jurisdiction under §§5803–5805 — its separate power to rescind, alter, or amend an award for good cause, and after five years from the injury only on a petition filed within them (§5803, §5804), which the five-year rule guide covers.
Two grounds carry an extra burden. A petition claiming fraud, or newly discovered evidence that could not with reasonable diligence have been produced before the case was submitted, must include a specific, detailed offer of proof: (a) the names of the witnesses to be produced; (b) a summary of their testimony; (c) a description of any documentary evidence; (d) the effect the evidence will have on the record and on the prior decision; and (e) for newly discovered evidence, a full and accurate statement of why it couldn’t reasonably have been discovered or produced before submission. A petition on those grounds may be denied if it doesn’t meet the rule, or if it rests on cumulative evidence (8 CCR §10974).
What the petition has to say
Section 5902 sets the standard. The petition “shall set forth specifically and in full detail the grounds upon which the petitioner considers the final order, decision or award made and filed by the appeals board or a workers’ compensation judge to be unjust or unlawful, and every issue to be considered by the appeals board.” It must be verified upon oath in the manner required for verified pleadings in courts of record, and contain a general statement of any evidence or other matters it relies on. What it leaves out is waived: the petitioner “shall be deemed to have finally waived all objections, irregularities, and illegalities concerning the matter upon which the reconsideration is sought other than those set forth in the petition for reconsideration” (§5904). As Maranian put it, an issue left out that way is waived for good, and can’t be presented in a later petition to the board or in a petition to the court under §5950 (p. 1076).
The board’s rules add the mechanics. Every petition must fairly state all the material evidence relative to the points at issue, with each contention separately stated and clearly set forth, and a failure to fairly state the material evidence may be a basis for denying it (8 CCR §10945(a)). Evidentiary statements need specific references to the record: for testimony or stipulations, the hearing’s date and time and, if available, the page and line of the minutes, summary of evidence, or transcript; for a document, its exhibit number or letter, its author and date where applicable, and the page; for a deposition, the exhibit, the person deposed, the date, and the page and line (§10945(b)). Documents already received in evidence or made part of the adjudication file aren’t attached as exhibits, and a document outside the file goes with a petition for reconsideration or an answer only when newly discovered evidence is a ground (§10945(c)). A petition is limited to 25 pages and an answer to 10, not counting the verification, proof of service, exhibits, or cover and separator sheets, unless the Appeals Board allows more — on its own motion or on a showing of good cause, with any request made by a separate petition under penalty of perjury that sets out the reasons (8 CCR §10940(d)). A verification and a proof of service are attached to each petition and answer, and failing to file a proof of service is a valid ground for dismissing the petition (§10940(c)). A petition unsupported by specific references to the record and to the principles of law involved may be denied or dismissed (8 CCR §10972, “Skeletal Petitions”).
Filing, service, and the answer
The petition is filed in EAMS or with the district office that has venue, unless otherwise provided, and with no duplicate copies; documents sent directly to the Appeals Board by fax or e-mail aren’t accepted for filing unless it orders otherwise. A petition for reconsideration of a decision the Appeals Board made after reconsideration is filed with the office of the Appeals Board instead (§10940(a)–(b)). The petitioner must serve a copy “forthwith upon all adverse parties,” and the statute continues: “Any adverse party may file an answer thereto within 10 days thereafter.” The answer is verified too (§5905). Beyond the petition and the answer, supplemental petitions, pleadings, or responses are considered only when the Appeals Board specifically requests or approves them (8 CCR §10964).
Filing also pauses the decision, briefly. The petition “shall suspend for a period of 10 days the order, decision, or award affected, insofar as it applies to the parties to the petition, unless otherwise ordered by the appeals board,” and the board may stay, suspend, or postpone the decision on terms it sets while reconsideration is pending (§5910).
The trial judge’s 15 days
The petition goes first to the judge whose decision it challenges (8 CCR §10962). Within 15 days of a timely petition, that judge must do one of three things (8 CCR §10961): (a) prepare a Report and Recommendation on Petition for Reconsideration; (b) rescind the entire order, decision, or award and initiate further proceedings within 30 days; or (c) rescind it and issue an amended order, decision, or award — and then the time to petition for reconsideration runs from the amended decision’s filing date. Once 15 days have passed since the petition was filed, the judge issues no order in the case until the Appeals Board has denied or dismissed the petition or issued a decision after reconsideration.
The report states the petition’s contentions, discusses the support in the record for the findings of fact and conclusions of law behind the decision on each one, and recommends an action. The judge submits it to the Appeals Board within 15 days after the petition is filed, unless the board extends the time, and serves it on the parties — and on any lien claimant whose lien’s validity the petition specifically questions — when it’s submitted (§10962).
The Appeals Board’s 60 days
Then the board’s clock runs. Section 5909(a): “A petition for reconsideration is deemed to have been denied by the appeals board unless it is acted upon within 60 days from the date a trial judge transmits a case to the appeals board.” The judge must give the parties and the board notice of the transmission, and service of the judge’s report counts as that notice (§5909(b)).
That trigger is recent. Until 2024 the 60 days ran from the date the petition was filed; Assembly Bill 171 (Stats. 2024, ch. 52) moved the start to the judge’s transmission of the case, with a sunset that would have restored the filing-date rule on July 1, 2026. SB 171 (Stats. 2026, ch. 83), effective July 13, 2026, amended the section again, and in the Supreme Court’s summary, “the Legislature repealed the sunset provision. As a result, section 5909 maintains the amended trigger for the Appeals Board to act on a petition for reconsideration as 60 days from the date the trial judge transmits the case to the Board” (Mayor, fn. 3).
What happens when the board misses its deadline is the subject of Mayor v. WCAB. The employer’s petition there was filed March 23, 2023, when §5909 gave the board 60 days from filing; the board acted 144 days after filing, saying it hadn’t received notice of the petition until the 60 days had run. A unanimous Supreme Court agreed with the Court of Appeal “that the deadline in former section 5909 is mandatory and that the Appeals Board may not equitably toll its own deadline to act,” and concluded that “a petition for writ of mandate filed in the Court of Appeal is the proper way for an affected party to enforce section 5909.” It allowed that there “may be some narrow circumstances in which due process considerations could permit the Appeals Board to act outside of the 60-day deadline,” but none was asserted there. And a petition can be denied by inaction alone: as the Court explained, §5908.5’s requirement of a written, reasoned decision doesn’t prohibit denial under §5909 that way. Mayor construed the former, filing-date version of the statute; the current text runs the 60 days from transmission.
What the board can decide
Acting on a petition, the board may — with or without further proceedings, and with or without notice — affirm, rescind, alter, or amend the decision on the evidence already in the record, or grant reconsideration and direct the taking of additional evidence (§5906), and after taking it, affirm, rescind, alter, or amend the original decision (§5908(a)). A decision granting or denying a petition, or affirming, rescinding, altering, or amending after reconsideration, is made by the Appeals Board, not a workers’ compensation judge, and must be in writing, signed by a majority of the board members assigned, stating the evidence relied upon and specifying in detail the reasons (§5908.5). When reconsideration is granted and the case goes back to a trial judge for further proceedings, that judge may not order a medical examination, obtain a recommended disability evaluation, take the case off calendar, or approve or disapprove a Compromise and Release (8 CCR §10984).
After the board: the 45-day writ
Review beyond the board is by writ. Under §5950, any person affected by an order, decision, or award of the appeals board may apply to the Court of Appeal for the appellate district in which they reside, or to the Supreme Court, for a writ of review — within 45 days after a petition for reconsideration is denied or, if a petition is granted or reconsideration is had on the board’s own motion, within 45 days after the filing of the decision after reconsideration. In Mayor, the Court noted, the employer’s deadline to seek a writ expired on July 6, 2023 — 45 days after its petition was deemed denied, and before the board granted reconsideration.
The court decides on the board’s certified record, with no new evidence (§5951), and its review extends no further than whether the board acted without or in excess of its powers; whether the decision was procured by fraud, was unreasonable, or was not supported by substantial evidence; and, if findings of fact were made, whether they support it. The court holds no trial de novo, takes no evidence, and exercises no independent judgment on the evidence (§5952), and the board’s findings and conclusions on questions of fact are conclusive and final (§5953). Filing for the writ doesn’t by itself stay or suspend the board’s decision (§5956).
For the hearings that produce these decisions, see how WCAB hearings work. Descriptive summary of Labor Code §§5900–5911 and 5950–5956 and the WCAB’s reconsideration rules; not legal advice.