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✦ Certified Specialist in Workers’ Compensation Law — Certified by the State Bar of California, Board of Legal Specialization ✦
Serving injured workers across California. Board-certified specialist; no fee unless we win.
By Eman Yazdchi, Esq. · Certified Specialist in Workers' Compensation Law, State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization
In California, Labor Code §3600 is the no-fault liability anchor of workers' compensation — benefits are owed when an injury arises out of and in the course of employment, without proof of employer fault. Yazdchi Law, certified in Workers' Compensation Law by the California Board of Legal Specialization, State Bar of California, handles §3600 disputes statewide.
California Labor Code §3600 establishes the no-fault liability rule that anchors California workers' compensation. When an employee is injured arising out of and in the course of employment — the AOE/COE threshold — the employer is liable for compensation benefits regardless of fault. The injured worker does not need to prove employer negligence, unsafe conditions, or wrongdoing. The §3600 trade-off is the core bargain: workers receive prompt no-fault benefits in exchange for waiving most civil tort claims against the employer for the same industrial injury.
Under California Labor Code §3600, a California injured worker meets the compensability threshold by showing the injury arose out of (was caused by) the work and occurred in the course of (during the time and within the scope of) employment. The §3600 statute enumerates the conditions of compensation — including that both employer and employee were subject to the comp system at the time, that the employee was performing services in the course of employment, and that the injury was proximately caused by the employment. Once these are met, benefits flow without further proof of fault.
When California §3600 compensability is established, the full benefit package opens: medical treatment under California Labor Code §4600, temporary disability under California Labor Code §4653, permanent disability under California Labor Code §4660 rated on the AMA Guides 5th Edition, the Supplemental Job Displacement Benefit voucher under California Labor Code §4658.7 when applicable, and death benefits under California Labor Code §4702 where the injury is fatal. The §3600 no-fault rule is what makes this benefit package automatic rather than negotiated.
Under California Labor Code §3600, California compensability fails when the injury falls within an enumerated exclusion: the worker's own intoxication that proximately caused the injury, willful self-inflicted injury, an altercation the worker initiated, a felony the worker was committing at the time, off-duty recreational activity outside the scope of employment, or material deviation from the scope of employment. Each §3600 exclusion is fact-intensive and is litigated before the WCAB judge.
Under California Labor Code §3600 and California Labor Code §3601, California workers' compensation is the exclusive remedy against the employer when §3600 conditions concur — the worker cannot sue the employer civilly for the same industrial injury. The §3601 exclusivity has narrow carve-outs: the dual-capacity / intentional-act exceptions under Labor Code Section 3602, California Labor Code §3706 which permits a civil suit against an uninsured employer, and the power-press-guard-removal carve-out under Labor Code Section 4558. Outside those California carve-outs, §3600 benefits are the sole remedy.
Injured at work? Call (661) 273-1780
Tap to call →Last reviewed by Eman Yazdchi, Esq., May 2026.
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