"The company closed."

Find out whether there was coverage

Do not take anyone's word for this, including a former manager's.

Search the public coverage database at caworkcompcoverage.com, and if that is inconclusive, request a Coverage Research Service Request from the WCIRB. That verification — for the date of injury, which may be years before the closure — is the document everything else depends on.

In a cumulative trauma claim the relevant date is the § 5412 date of injury, not the date you stopped working. That distinction decides which policy year applies. How cumulative trauma works.

If there was insurance

The carrier handles the claim exactly as it otherwise would. Bankruptcy of the employer does not discharge the carrier's obligation.

And if the carrier became insolvent, the California Insurance Guarantee Association exists to pay covered workers' compensation claims of insolvent insurers.

If there was no insurance

Two routes, and they are usually pursued together:

The Uninsured Employers Benefits Trust Fund pays medical treatment, temporary disability, permanent disability, job displacement benefits, and death benefits for workers injured by illegally uninsured employers. It is procedurally demanding — the employer must be personally served with a Special Notice of Lawsuit under § 3715 and properly joined, and benefits generally do not attach until that is done.

Serving a dissolved corporation is the hard part. The agent for service of process must be served; after three failed attempts, a petition for service on the Secretary of State is the route. For a partnership or sole proprietorship, a partner or the owner must be served personally. Do not let this be attempted informally.

And § 3706 permits a civil action against the employer where it failed to secure coverage — with § 3708 presuming negligence and barring contributory negligence, assumption of the risk, and the fellow-servant defense. Collectibility is the practical question, and a successor entity, a solvent parent, a general liability policy, or a personally liable owner may make it a real one. The full route.

And look past the employer entirely

A property owner. A general contractor. An equipment manufacturer. A staffing agency's client. A driver. None of those defendants care whether your employer still exists, and a claim against them pays for pain and suffering, which workers' compensation does not.

In construction, note § 2750.5: someone doing licensed work without a license cannot be an independent contractor, and their crew is frequently deemed employees of the licensed contractor or property owner who hired them. Construction claims.

Do it now

Dissolved companies get harder to serve every month. Records disappear, agents resign, and officers scatter. The one-year deadline to file the Application still applies, and in these cases delay is expensive in a way it is not in an ordinary claim.