Reporting of Claim by Employer
California state law requires that the employer submit Form 5020, Employer's Report of Occupational Injury or Illness within five (5) days to report every employee industrial injury or occupational illness that results in lost time beyond the date of injury or that results in medical treatment other than first aid.
First Aid Claims
First aid is any one-time treatment, and a follow-up visit for the purpose of observation of minor scratches, cuts, burns, splinters, etc., which do not ordinarily require medical care. Such one-time treatment, and follow-up visit for the purpose of observation, is considered first aid, even though provided by a physician or registered professional personnel (Title 8, California Code of Regulations, section 9780(d)).
Doctor's First Report of Injury
Labor Code section 6409(a) requires a physician who treats an injured employee to file a "Doctor's First Report of Injury" (DFR, form 5021) with the claims administrator for every work illness or injury, even first aid cases where there is no lost time from work. Although the Labor Code contains first aid exceptions for the "Employers' Report" (form 5020) and the "Employee Claim Form" (DWC-1), there is no such exception for the DFR. The insurance carrier (or the employer if the employer is self-insured) must forward these DFRs to:
Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) Division of Labor Statistics and Research (DLSR)
P.O. Box 420603
San Francisco, CA 94142-0603
There is no first aid exception to this statute.