Orange County

Which office hears your case

Two district offices, in practice by ZIP code — though § 5501.5(a) also allows the county of your attorney's principal place of business.

If you do not drive, that difference is significant — and it is worth knowing venue is not fixed by ZIP code alone. Venue is yours to choose, within what § 5501.5 allows. § 5501.5(a) lets the application be filed in the county where you live on the filing date, the county where the injury occurred (or, in cumulative trauma and occupational disease, where the last injurious exposure occurred), or the county where your attorney's principal place of business is, if you are represented. § 5501.5(b) requires your written consent to the selected venue to be filed with the application. (If the attorney's office is the one chosen, the employer may object and force one of the other two.) The DWC's ZIP code locator is a practical guide, not the rule.

What this county's work does

Healthcare — and check 8 CCR § 5120 (lift equipment and lift teams) and § 3342 (violent incident log) first in any nurse or CNA injury.

Hospitality and tourism · Restaurants — housekeeping is the most physically damaging job in the sector, and the injuries are cumulative rather than dramatic.

And engineered stone fabrication, which has produced a severe cluster of accelerated silicosis in young Southern California workers. California adopted an emergency standard in response. This is the most consequential current exposure in the state.

Frequently asked questions

City page: Santa Ana and Orange County