Dealing With AIG and Gallagher Bassett on a California Workers' Comp Claim

Is AIG My Employer, or Just the Insurer Behind My Claim?

AIG is not your employer. It is the insurance carrier, and some California employers hold their workers' compensation policy with it. On many of those claims, a different company actually does the daily work.

Yazdchi Law P.C. is independent of AIG, and independent of Gallagher Bassett too, the outside company AIG often brings in to run claims. Nothing here is a statement from either business; it is general legal information only.

American International Group is what AIG stands for. It sells many kinds of insurance, and workers' compensation coverage for California employers is just one line. Checked on AIG's own site on November 9, 2026: AIG calls itself an insurance organization writing property casualty coverage and other financial products.

One AIG page about workers' compensation claims names a partner for much of this work, Gallagher Bassett Services, Inc., under what AIG calls a strategic partnership. For a bundled policy, that partner usually does the hands-on work, not AIG's own staff: taking the first report, assigning a handler, deciding on treatment and payment. The exception is AIG's biggest files. Those stay inside AIG, handled by its own Major Case Unit for the highest-severity claims, according to that same page.

A "claims administrator" is Title 8's label for whoever actually runs a claim, whether that is an insurer handling its own files, a self-insured employer doing the same, or an outside firm either one hires (Title 8 section 9811(a)). Which piece AIG or Gallagher Bassett fits depends entirely on how a specific policy is set up.

Plenty of California employers go a different way entirely, carrying coverage with another private insurer, with the State Compensation Insurance Fund, or through self-insurance. None of that changes the rules below.

How Do You Report an AIG Claim or Reach Gallagher Bassett?

Your employer reports the injury first. From there, AIG's own pages point most claimants to an online system or to Gallagher Bassett, not to one phone line for every claim.

Under California law, telling your employer comes first. Thirty days is the window for giving that notice after a work injury (Labor Code section 5400). From there, once your employer has notice of something serious, a single working day is all state law allows before a claim form has to reach you: the DWC-1 (Labor Code section 5401). Handing that form back is the step that actually opens a file.

AIG's claims pages, checked November 9, 2026, list an online system for reporting a new claim, plus a telephonic workers' compensation line at (855) 902-5730. A bundled claim that is already open routes instead to Gallagher Bassett's dedicated AIG unit: toll free at (833) 465-2499, or by email at GB-AIG_West_WC-Mail@gbtpa.com. That branch is listed as covering California along with other western states. For checking an open claim, payments, prescriptions, doctor information, AIG names a separate portal, AIG Go WC.

None of those match what is in your hand? Your own claim letters or benefit notice carry the one number tied to your specific adjuster or examiner, and that beats any general line. Your employer's human resources staff can point you to the right company and office too.

Who Decides Which Doctor You See on an AIG Claim?

A medical provider network usually makes that call. Without one in place, state law hands the choice back to you.

AIG's California resource page, checked November 9, 2026, links out to a medical provider network search and to the state's own Department of Industrial Relations, at this AIG page. A network set up under Labor Code section 4616 is usually where your treating doctor comes from. No network on your claim? Your own choice of doctor becomes available starting on day 31 after you reported the injury, under Labor Code section 4600(c). For the fuller comparison, see our guide to choosing an MPN doctor versus predesignating your own.

What Is the Deadline to Decide and Pay a Claim?

California holds whoever is handling your claim to two deadlines: 90 days to decide it, and your first disability check owed within 14 days, backed by a good-faith duty to investigate the whole time.

A 90-day clock starts the moment a claim form is filed, and somewhere inside that window, your claim has to be accepted or denied in writing (Labor Code section 5402). Nothing in writing by day 90, and the injury is accepted as a matter of law, unless new facts turn up afterward to rebut that. Treatment is not supposed to wait for any of this: up to $10,000 of care has to be authorized the next working day after that claim form lands.

Say your employer learns on a Monday that you were hurt and missed work that day. Your first disability check must go out within 14 days of that Monday, under Labor Code section 4650. A late check does not stay late for free: California adds 10 percent to it automatically, no request needed.

Behind that payment schedule sits a Title 8 duty to investigate: fair, prompt, and aimed at what you are actually owed rather than at defending against the claim (Title 8 section 10109). Written notices track the same calendar. One of them covers your first disability payment, due by day 14 counting from your employer's notice of it (Title 8 section 9812).

Step	Deadline	Law
Report injury to your employer	Within 30 days	Labor Code 5400
File your workers' comp claim	Within 1 year	Labor Code 5405
Insurer must accept or deny	Within 90 days	Labor Code 5402
First disability check	Within 14 days	Labor Code 4650
Appeal a denied treatment	Within 30 days	Labor Code 4610.5

Can You Fight a Denied AIG or Gallagher Bassett Claim?

A treatment fight can go to independent medical review, a late payment adds its own penalty, and a judge handles most other disputes.

A treatment request does not end with utilization review. When that review denies it, delays it, or changes it, the next stop can be an independent medical review: a fresh look at the medical file by a physician with no tie to either company on your claim (Labor Code section 4610; Labor Code section 4610.5).

Step	What happens	Your deadline
Treatment request	Your doctor asks the insurer to approve care	None
Utilization Review	A reviewer approves, modifies, or denies it	Days
Denied	You request Independent Medical Review	30 days to appeal
IMR decision	A neutral doctor decides on the records	Final and binding

Refusing a payment outright, or sitting on it well past what counts as reasonable, costs extra under California law: no more than 25 percent on top, or $10,000, whichever number is smaller (Labor Code section 5814). A full denial, or any benefit decision you disagree with, heads to the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board next. A workers' compensation judge takes charge of that dispute once a form called the Application for Adjudication of Claim gets filed. Free help on any California claim is a phone call away at the DWC Information and Assistance Unit, 1-800-736-7401. For the step-by-step version, see our pages on what to do after a denial and on asking for independent review once utilization review says no.

When Does It Make Sense to Call a Lawyer About an AIG Claim?

Most claims travel the whole distance, first report to last check, without turning into a fight. It is the moment something actually goes wrong, a denial, a check that quits arriving, a treatment fight, or a permanent disability figure that does not add up, when a lawyer starts to matter. Each potential case gets its own look from the firm, and only some get taken on.

California law fixes what a workers' comp attorney can charge, not the attorney and not either company on this claim. Fifteen to eighteen percent of whatever the claim recovers is the customary band, and it only becomes final once a workers' compensation judge puts a signature on it (Labor Code section 4906). Our separate page walks through the full cost picture for hiring a workers' comp lawyer in California.

Whether AIG, Gallagher Bassett, or a company you have never heard of is holding your file, Yazdchi Law P.C. reviews each potential case individually. The firm does not take on every matter, and nothing on this page is advice about your specific claim.

Call (661) 273-1780 or use the contact form. Explain what happened at work, name AIG or Gallagher Bassett as the company on the claim, and describe where the claim stands at this point.

If You Want More on Your Claim

The links below say more about the rest of your claim, what a denial changes, and typical lawyer fees.

• Review how a California workers' comp claim moves forward
• Read what to do if a claims administrator denies your claim
• Compare this page with a claim Gallagher Bassett handles on its own
• See the rules that cap a workers' comp lawyer's fee