"I hurt my back lifting."

Today

Report it in writing — text or email, dated, copy kept. § 5402(a) makes knowledge by any supervisor or person in authority sufficient notice, but written proof beats a memory.

Get medical care and say it happened at work, with the date and what you were lifting. Ask them to correct the note if it does not say so.

Name every part that hurts — not just the low back. Leg pain, numbness, tingling, groin symptoms, and neck pain all matter and all get argued about later if they appear for the first time in month six.

And describe the mechanism specifically: the weight, the height you lifted from and to, whether you twisted, whether the load shifted, whether you were rushed, and whether you were doing it alone. "I hurt my back" is not a mechanism.

What will be argued

"It's degenerative." Degenerative disc disease is near-universal on imaging in adults and mostly asymptomatic. The question is what caused the disability, not what appears on an MRI. How that argument is answered.

"There was no accident." If your back wore out over years of lifting rather than in one moment, that is a cumulative trauma claim — a recognized claim, and the largest injury category in California. How.

"You had a prior back injury." Expect this one to have teeth — under Lindh, a prior condition that never disabled you can still support apportionment. The defense still has to prove, on substantial medical evidence, that it caused part of this disability. And a prior disability may open a SIBTF claim, which is additional money. More.

What decides the rating

Low back ratings turn on the method the physician uses and on objective findings — not on how much it hurts. How low back injuries are rated, and what to check.

And if a surgery makes things worse, under Hikida v. WCAB the resulting disability is industrial and generally not apportionable. But Hikida has been cut down, and the site that does not say so is out of date.* In County of Santa Clara v. WCAB (Justice) *(2020) 49 Cal.App.5th 605 [85 Cal.Comp.Cases 467] the Court of Appeal held that Hikida "precludes apportionment only where the industrial medical treatment is the sole cause of the permanent disability." Where pre-existing pathology also contributes, §§ 4663 and 4664 apportionment still applies. Sole cause is a demanding test, and the rule is much narrower than it is usually described. More.

One thing specific to lifting injuries

If the employer required a lift that should not have been done alone, ask what the written policy said, whether equipment existed and worked, and whether a prior complaint or Cal/OSHA citation exists.

In healthcare, 8 CCR § 5120 requires hospitals to replace manual patient handling with lift devices and lift teams — and to train you that you may refuse an unsafe lift. More.

A documented failure of that kind can support a § 4553 petition — one-half more, paid by the employer personally. Twelve-month deadline. How.