"My adjuster won't call me back."

Put it in writing today

Email or letter. Dated. Specific. Keep a copy.

State what you need — a treatment authorization, a benefit payment, mileage reimbursement, an explanation of why something stopped — and give a date by which you expect a response.

That single document converts "they are ignoring me" into a documented request, which is what every remedy below depends on.

Then use the deadlines

Benefits. Temporary and permanent disability are due every two weeks under § 4650. A late indemnity payment carries an automatic 10% under § 4650(d) — "without application." You do not have to ask; the administrator is required to add it. It routinely is not added. How.

Unreasonable delay. Under § 5814, compensation unreasonably delayed or refused is increased up to 25% or up to $10,000, whichever is less — and "compensation" includes medical treatment, medical-legal expense, and mileage, not just indemnity. Two-year deadline from when the payment was due.

And where an award has already issued and the employer is one that secured payment under § 3700, § 5814.5 requires an award of attorney's fees paid by the employer — not out of your recovery. (It does not reach the illegally uninsured employer.)

Treatment. A request that goes unanswered is not a neutral outcome. Utilization review runs on hard deadlines, and a decision that misses them is defective — which sends the dispute to a judge rather than into IMR. How to check.

The claim itself. If liability was not rejected within 90 days of your claim form, § 5402(b) presumes the injury compensable — and the presumption can only be rebutted by evidence discovered after the 90 days ran out.

Force the calendar

Nothing in this system moves on its own. The mechanism that forces a hearing date is a Declaration of Readiness to Proceed, and it can be filed by either side.

A DOR sets a mandatory settlement conference 10 to 30 days out and, if the case does not resolve, trial within 75 days. The full timeline.

For urgent medical treatment or temporary disability disputes, an expedited hearing is available — and it is heard in person. How hearings work.

And use the free state resource

Every DWC district office has an Information & Assistance officer who answers questions and helps with forms at no cost. They are underused, and for a stalled claim they are a legitimate first call. Where the offices are.

The DWC Information Services Center is 1-800-736-7401.

Build the ledger

One page. Every payment: date issued, date received, period covered, amount. Every request: date, what you asked for, whether it was answered.

Most delay claims are won or lost on whether this document exists, and nobody but you can build it.