What Is California Labor Code §4658.5: Old Job Displacement Vouchers?

This section shall apply to injuries occurring on or after January 1, 2004, and before January 1, 2013.

What Does Labor Code 4658.5 Cover?

Labor Code 4658.5 gave workers hurt between 2004 and 2012 a retraining voucher worth $4,000 to $10,000.

This law covers only a California work injury dated January 1, 2004 through December 31, 2012. If that injury left the worker with permanent partial disability, often called PD, and the employer did not bring the worker back to a job within 60 days after temporary disability (TD) payments stopped, the worker could qualify for this voucher. The payment is called a Supplemental Job Displacement Benefit, or SJDB voucher for short. It covered tuition and related costs at a state-approved or accredited school, not cash in hand.

An injury dated January 1, 2013 or later never uses this section. That later injury instead falls under Labor Code 4658.7, a separate voucher described below.

How Much Was the Section 4658.5 Voucher Worth?

The old voucher ranged from $4,000 to $10,000, scaled to how high the worker’s permanent disability rating was.

The statute set four flat tiers. The worker’s permanent disability (PD) rating, the percentage assigned to the injury, decided which tier applied. Labor Code 4658 explains how a PD rating turns into a payment schedule; the table below shows only the retraining voucher tied to that rating.

The voucher paid tuition, fees, books, and other school costs tied to retraining or skill building at a state-approved or accredited school. No more than 10 percent of it could go toward vocational or return-to-work counseling instead of classes.

When Did the 60-Day Clock Start, and Could an Employer Avoid It?

The clock started when temporary disability payments ended, and a qualifying job offer inside 30 days could stop the voucher from ever being owed.

Under this section, eligibility turned on the 60 days after TD payments stopped. If the worker had not returned to work for that employer by then, the voucher became due. Labor Code 4658.7 explains how the current law counts a similar clock differently.

Labor Code 4658.6 gave the employer a way out. If, within 30 days after TD payments stopped, the employer offered modified work that fit the worker’s restrictions, or alternative work that paid within 15 percent of the old wage and sat within a reasonable commute, each lasting at least 12 months, and the worker turned it down or did not accept it, the employer owed no voucher. Labor Code 4658.1 defines regular, modified, and alternative work for this kind of offer.

How Does Section 4658.5 Connect to the Current SJDB Law?

Labor Code 4658.7 replaced this section for any injury dated January 1, 2013 or later, with one flat $6,000 voucher instead of four tiers.

California rewrote the voucher rules effective January 1, 2013. For a claim dated that day or later, Labor Code 4658.7 pays a single $6,000 voucher no matter the PD rating, widens what the money can cover, including a licensing exam fee or up to $1,000 of computer equipment, and gives the employer 60 days after a doctor’s report, not 30 days after TD ends, to make a qualifying offer. The two laws share one purpose, helping an injured worker retrain for different work, but they are not interchangeable. Check the date of injury before relying on either one.

For help using today’s voucher, see the firm’s guide to the current SJDB voucher.

Does an Old Section 4658.5 Voucher Still Work Today?

Probably not. Any voucher tied to this section is likely past its expiration date by now.

The statute states that a voucher issued on or after January 1, 2013 expires two years after the date it was furnished to the worker, or five years after the date of injury, whichever is later. Every injury under this section happened before January 1, 2013, so the five-year mark has already passed for all of them. A voucher furnished unusually late could still fall inside its own two-year window. If you kept paperwork for an old voucher, ask the firm to check the exact dates before assuming it still has value.

What Should You Save or Ask About for an Older Claim?

Keep your dates and paperwork, then ask which voucher law actually covers your injury.

Save the date temporary disability payments ended, your permanent disability rating or award, any written job offer from the employer, and the voucher itself if one was issued. Those dates decide whether this section or Labor Code 4658.7 applies, and whether a voucher already expired. If your injury built up over time rather than happening in one event, the rules for dating a cumulative trauma claim can also affect which law controls.

An older workers’ compensation claim can raise questions that a current-law page will not answer. Eman Yazdchi reviews each potential case individually from Yazdchi Law P.C. in Palmdale, serving injured workers across California, including claims that reach back to an earlier voucher law like this one. Call (661) 273-1780 or use the contact form to ask which voucher rule fits your dates. For the next step in a current claim, see the firm’s overview of how a California workers’ compensation claim moves forward.