Workers' Compensation After Fume Exposure And A Panic Attack

Attorney Answer

In California an injury like this normally goes through the workers' compensation system rather than a lawsuit against your employer. That sounds like bad news and is not entirely. Inside that system you do not have to prove anyone was careless — a work injury is covered because it happened at work. The trade-off is that the same rule generally closes the door on suing the company in court.

Cal. Lab. Code § 3602(a) is the provision that does it. Where the conditions of compensation set out in section 3600 are present, that section makes workers' compensation the employee's sole and exclusive remedy against the employer, subject only to the narrow exceptions the section itself names and to sections 3706 and 4558. Whether any of those exceptions fits what you are describing is a question for a lawyer, not one to settle by reading the section; but the starting point is that the claim belongs in the workers' compensation system.

Two things are worth knowing about that system before you enter it. First, it covers occupational illness and exposure, not only accidents — breathing something at work that makes you ill is within it. Second, California applies additional requirements to claims for psychiatric injury that do not apply to a broken arm, including rules about how long you had been employed and how much of the condition the work has to account for. Those requirements are real and they are where these claims are usually won or lost, so this is not a do-it-yourself claim.

Anyone other than your employer is a different matter. Exclusivity under § 3602(a) protects the employer; it does not protect an outside party — a contractor, an equipment supplier, or a building owner — whose conduct caused the exposure. A claim against a party like that is an ordinary injury claim and runs on Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1's two years, which is a separate track from anything filed with the workers' compensation system.

One more protection. Cal. Lab. Code § 132a declares California's policy that there should not be discrimination against workers who are injured in the course and scope of their employment, and it carries remedies including increased compensation, reinstatement and lost wages. If reporting this costs you hours, position or your job, that section is why you should tell a lawyer immediately rather than accepting it.

What you can do

1. Report the injury to your employer in writing, as Cal. Lab. Code § 5400 requires, describing the exposure and the symptoms, and keep a dated copy. Ask for a workers' compensation claim form under Cal. Lab. Code § 5401(a).

2. Get medical care and say clearly that the symptoms began at work after the exposure, so the cause is recorded from the start.

3. Write down what was being burned, where, when, for how long, and who else was present or affected, and keep any photographs, texts or emails that already exist about it.

4. File a complaint with Cal/OSHA about the burning if it is still happening. It is a free agency filing and it creates an independent record.

5. Ask a local workers' compensation attorney about the deadlines that apply to your claim and about the extra requirements for a psychiatric injury claim. Most handle these on a contingency basis.

6. Ask that attorney separately whether anyone other than your employer may be responsible for the exposure.

Most lawyers offer a brief initial call at no cost, and a few minutes on your specific facts is worth more than any general guidance, including this page.

⏱ Time limits apply. Cal. Lab. Code § 3602(a) is what routes this into the workers' compensation system, and that system has its own deadlines — for reporting to the employer under Cal. Lab. Code § 5400 and for filing the claim — which are separate from and shorter than the ordinary court deadlines and are not set out on this page. Any claim against someone other than your employer would instead run on Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1's two years. Which deadlines apply depends on your facts and on when the exposure and the symptoms began, so have a local attorney review the dates now rather than later.