What Is 8 CCR §10605: Extra Days for Mailed Papers?

When any document is served by mail, fax, e-mail or any method other than personal service, the period of time for exercising or performing any right or duty to act or respond shall be extended by: (1) Five calendar days from the date of service, if the place of address and the place of mailing of the party, attorney or other agent of record being served is within California; (2) Ten calendar days from the date of service, if the place of address and the place of mailing of the party, attorney or other agent of record being served is outside of California but within the United States; and (3) Twenty calendar days from the date of service, if the place of address and the place of mailing of the party, attorney or other agent of record being served is outside the United States.

What does 8 CCR §10605 do?

It adds extra calendar days to a workers' comp deadline, but only when the triggering document reached its recipient some way other than in person.

This rule applies to any party in a California workers' comp case: an injured worker, an employer, an insurer, or an attorney for any of them. It does not create a new deadline on its own. Instead, it extends a deadline that already exists somewhere else, such as the 20-day window to ask the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board to reconsider a judge's decision. Hand a document to someone directly, and this rule adds nothing; the extra days apply only to the methods the next section lists.

How many extra days do you get, and from where?

Five calendar days if the document was mailed from a California address, ten days from elsewhere in the United States, or twenty days from outside the country.

The extra time is based on where the document was sent from, called the "place of address and the place of mailing" in the rule, not on where you live or where you opened the envelope.

Count the extra days as calendar days, not business days, and add them on top of the deadline you already have.

How does this rule change the deadline to petition for reconsideration?

It is the rule behind the extra days that people mean when they talk about a "25-day" deadline to ask the WCAB to reconsider a decision, though that total is not automatic.

Under Labor Code section 5903, a person aggrieved by a judge's final order, decision, or award has 20 days after service to file a petition for reconsideration, on one of the grounds this site's reconsideration-grounds card explains. This card covers that 20-day deadline in full. When that order was sent by mail, fax or e-mail from a California address, this regulation adds five calendar days, for 25 days total. That extra five days does not apply in every case. If the order was mailed from outside California, the extension is ten or twenty days instead of five, which changes the total. Check the proof of service for the actual mailing address, then add the matching number of days from the table above, rather than assuming a flat 25-day rule.

Does the same extension apply to a petition for removal or other short deadlines?

Yes. This regulation extends any WCAB deadline that starts running when a document is served, not only the reconsideration deadline.

A petition for removal, which challenges an order before your case is finally decided, also runs on a 20-day clock from service of the order, and the same five, ten or twenty day extension applies depending on where that order was mailed from. The same extension can apply to an answer to a petition and to most of the other short deadlines that come up while a WCAB case is open. This firm's own Acton workers' comp appeal guide is one of many city pages on this site that cite this exact rule when laying out a local appeal timeline.

What if the Appeals Board never rules on your petition?

A petition for reconsideration that sits for 60 days without action is treated as denied, and you can then challenge it the same way as a decision on the merits.

That 60-day clock comes from Labor Code section 5909, a different rule from the mail extension above. It runs from when the judge transmits the case to the board, not from the date you mailed your petition. Track both clocks separately: the deadline to file your petition, stretched by this regulation if it applies, and the 60 days the board then has to act once your petition is filed.

What should you do if a deadline is close?

Find the actual proof of service, confirm the mailing address it lists, and count forward using the matching number of days before you assume you have more time.

Every document the WCAB or the other side sends should come with a proof of service showing the date and the address used. Keep that proof with the document itself. If the math is close, do not wait to be certain; an untimely petition can be dismissed outright, regardless of how strong its grounds are.

How can Yazdchi Law help with a WCAB deadline?

Call (661) 273-1780 or use the contact form for a free consultation. Bring the order or decision you received along with its proof of service, so the mailing date and address can be checked against the rule above. Yazdchi Law P.C. reviews each workers' compensation matter on its own facts, from its office in Palmdale, before deciding whether to take it on.