Can I Quit My Job While I Am on Workers' Comp in California?

Can I quit my job while on workers' comp in California?

Yes. You can resign at any time, even while your California workers' comp claim is open. Quitting does not close the claim or erase benefits you have already earned.

A workers' comp claim belongs to you as the injured worker, not to the job itself. If you give notice, get laid off, or the company closes, the claim keeps moving. The insurer still owes the benefits tied to your injury.

What changes when you resign is narrower than most workers expect. A few benefits are tied to ongoing wage loss or to a specific work offer from your employer, so leaving on your own terms can shift those. Others, like medical care for the injury, stay exactly the same.

This page covers resigning on your own terms while a claim stays open. Losing a job because you filed a claim is a different legal problem. State law covers that under separate retaliation protections, not here.

Does quitting end my right to medical care for the injury?

No. Labor Code section 4600 ties your right to treatment to the injury itself, not to your current job, so an accepted injury keeps that right after you resign.

The statute requires your employer, through its insurer, to provide medical treatment that is reasonably required to cure or relieve the effects of your work injury. Nothing in that language depends on you still clocking in. Once your claim is accepted, the treatment duty for that injury continues after your last day on the job.

Two practical details still matter. If your employer or insurer set up a medical provider network, your treatment usually stays inside that network unless you qualify for a change, even after you leave. Also give your claims administrator your new mailing address and phone number right away. Appointment notices, bills, and treatment authorizations all go out by mail.

What happens to my temporary disability check if I quit?

It depends on whether your employer had already offered you work inside your medical restrictions before you left.

Temporary disability, usually shortened to TD, replaces wages during the period your injury keeps you from earning your normal pay (Labor Code section 4653). The statute also weighs your ability to compete in the open labor market while you are disabled.

If your employer never had suitable work for your restrictions, resigning does not usually change your TD. The injury, not your choice to leave, is still what keeps you out of work.

Say your employer had a real job offer that matched your doctor's written restrictions. If you quit instead of taking it, the insurer can argue that your ongoing wage loss now comes from that choice, not the injury. That is the same issue a worker faces when refusing a modified-duty offer outright. It deserves the same care. Get the offer in writing, and have your doctor review it before you decide.

TD itself is capped either way. For an injury on or after January 1, 2008, Labor Code section 4656 limits most claims to 104 weeks of payments within five years of the injury date. A longer cap applies only to a short list of severe conditions.

Does resigning change my permanent disability rating or payment?

Generally no. For an injury from 2013 forward, your permanent disability rating and payment do not move up or down because you resigned.

Permanent disability, or PD, pays for the lasting effects of your injury once your condition is about as good as it is going to get. A treating physician or an evaluating physician sets the percentage, and that medical finding does not change because you no longer work there.

Older claims worked differently. For an injury from January 1, 2005 through the end of 2012, an employer's offer of regular, modified, or alternative work could raise or lower the PD payment by 15 percent, unless the employer had fewer than 50 employees, since the statute exempts small employers from that swing entirely. The rule had one more wrinkle: a worker who quit on their own could not collect the 15 percent increase that otherwise applied when an employer ended a modified job early. If your injury falls in that older window, ask your attorney which version of the rule applies before you resign.

What about my Supplemental Job Displacement voucher?

The voucher depends on whether your employer made a timely job offer, not simply on whether you still work there.

The Supplemental Job Displacement Benefit, or SJDB, is a voucher worth up to $6,000 toward retraining, tools, or licensing. It applies when your injury leaves you with permanent partial disability (Labor Code section 4658.7). For an injury from 2013 forward, you are entitled to the voucher unless your employer acts first. The employer must offer regular, modified, or alternative work within 60 days of a doctor's report finding your condition permanent and stationary. That job must pay close to your old wage and last at least 12 months.

Resigning before that 60-day window closes puts you in a gray area. The statute does not spell out this exact situation. Whether the voucher stays available can turn on exact dates. Compare when you left, when the permanent and stationary report came out, and whether any offer was already on the table. Do not assume either way. Ask your attorney to check the dates on your claim before you decide.

Can I collect unemployment if I quit while on workers' comp?

Only in limited situations, because the two systems ask different questions.

Under Unemployment Insurance Code section 1256, quitting a job voluntarily without good cause disqualifies you from unemployment benefits. The EDD treats a documented attempt to keep the job, such as asking for a leave of absence or a transfer first, as part of showing good cause. Simply preferring to leave is not enough on its own.

Timing matters too. The EDD will not pay unemployment for any day you are too injured to work. If you are still under total work restrictions when you resign, unemployment is unlikely to help for those same days. Unemployment is built around being able and available for work. That is a different test than the one workers' comp uses for TD.

What if my settlement includes a resignation?

Read any resignation language separately from the workers' comp settlement itself, since a workers' compensation judge only approves the comp terms.

Many claims end in a lump-sum settlement called a Compromise and Release, or C&R. A C&R resolves your indemnity and medical rights under the claim once a workers' compensation judge approves it. It does not, by itself, end your employment.

Some employers want to resolve the job at the same time as the claim. They may ask you to sign a separate resignation or separation agreement alongside the C&R. That document is an employment matter, not a workers' comp issue. The judge approving your C&R is not reviewing it. Read any resignation language on its own, and have someone other than the claims adjuster explain exactly what it gives up.

• Get any modified-duty or return-to-work offer in writing before you decide to quit.
• Ask your treating doctor whether the offered job actually matches your written restrictions.
• Check your injury date against the SJDB and permanent disability rules above.
• Review the EDD's good cause rules before you certify for unemployment.
• Have any resignation or severance language reviewed apart from the C&R paperwork.

Yazdchi Law represents injured workers across the Antelope Valley, San Fernando Valley, and the greater Los Angeles region, with workers' compensation appeals board hearings at venues including Van Nuys, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Pomona, San Bernardino, Riverside, and Oxnard.

The firm reviews each workers' comp matter individually. The consultation is free, and there is no fee unless you recover compensation. If you are weighing a resignation while your claim is open, bring your work restrictions, any job offer, and your settlement paperwork to that consultation.

Call (661) 273-1780 or use the contact form before you give notice.

Related questions

A few more California workers' comp questions come up alongside this one.

• What happens if I accept or refuse a modified-duty offer?
• What are my rights on light-duty work?
• How much does a permanent disability rating pay?
• What if I cannot go back to work at all?
• Can I collect workers' comp and unemployment together?
• What if I was fired after filing a claim, instead of resigning?