What Is California Labor Code §5307.9: Copy Service Fees?

The schedule shall specify the services allowed and shall require specificity in billing for these services, and shall not allow for payment for services provided within 30 days of a request by an injured worker or his or her authorized representative to an employer, claims administrator, or workers’ compensation insurer for copies of records in the employer’s, claims administrator’s, or workers’ compensation insurer’s possession that are relevant to the employee’s claim.

What Is California Labor Code 5307.9?

Labor Code 5307.9 sets a ceiling on what can be billed for copying workers’ comp claim records, and it removes that fee altogether when the copies come back inside 30 days of a request.

Copying records costs money, and on a workers’ compensation claim that cost usually lands on the employer, its claims administrator, or its insurer rather than on you. Labor Code 5307.9 answers a narrow but practical question: how much can a copy service charge for that work, and does a fast turnaround change the answer? The statute puts the administrative director in charge of a fee schedule and builds in a free window when your own request is answered quickly.

This rule applies to you if you have an open California workers’ compensation claim and you, or someone you have authorized to act for you, ask your employer, its claims administrator, or its insurer for copies of records already in their files. It reaches paper records, electronic files, film, and other digital formats the schedule covers.

How Does the 30-Day Window Work in a Real Claim?

If you or your representative ask for records the employer, claims administrator, or insurer already has, and those records arrive within 30 days, the fee schedule will not allow a copy charge for that work.

Start the clock on the date you or your representative sends the request. If the records relevant to your claim arrive before that 30-day mark, Labor Code 5307.9 does not let anyone bill for the copying. The statute is written as a limit on what the administrative director’s schedule may allow, not as an amount the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board (WCAB) awards you directly, so the practical use of it shows up in how a request and a bill get written and checked.

The text does not list a dollar amount for copying done after that window closes. It leaves those figures to the schedule the administrative director adopts after public hearings. If you are billed for copies, the first question is whether the free period covered that particular request.

Whose Records Does Labor Code 5307.9 Cover?

The free-copy rule only reaches records already sitting in the employer’s, claims administrator’s, or insurer’s possession that relate to your claim.

Labor Code 5307.9 is not a general right to demand a new test or a new report. It covers copying and related services for records or documents already on file, reproduced or recorded in paper, electronic, film, digital, or other format. Medical records, claim correspondence, and similar documents a claims administrator already holds on your case can fall under this rule once you or your representative asks for copies.

A record that does not exist yet, or one that sits with someone outside the employer, claims administrator, or insurer, is outside this particular statute. Those situations run through other procedures, including the medical-legal process in Labor Code 4620 once a claim becomes contested.

Does It Matter Which Section a Copy Bill Is Claimed Under?

No. Labor Code 5307.9 applies the same way whether a copy bill is claimed under Section 4600, 4620, or 5811, or any other authority, with one narrow exception.

The statute names three other sections directly. Labor Code 4600 covers the employer’s duty to pay for medical treatment. Labor Code 4620 defines medical-legal expenses once a claim is contested. Labor Code 5811 uses its own administrative-director fee schedule for interpreter costs in a similar way. A copy bill does not escape the 5307.9 fee cap or the 30-day rule just because it is framed as a cost tied to one of those sections, or to any other authority.

The one exception is a direct contract between the employer and the copy service provider. Outside an agreement like that, the fee schedule and the 30-day rule both apply the same way.

What Happens If a Copy Service Bill Goes Unpaid or Disputed?

An unresolved copy service charge is usually pursued the way other claim expenses are, as a lien, with its own filing deadline.

When a copy service provider is not paid, the usual next step is a lien claim against the case. Labor Code 4903.5 sets the filing deadline for that kind of lien, and a lien that is not resolved on paper is typically addressed at a lien conference before the WCAB. None of this changes the 30-day rule on its own. It only describes where a dispute over an unpaid bill tends to end up.

What Should You Do If You Are Billed for Copies of Your Own Records?

Write down the request date, who received it, and the date the copies actually arrived, then compare those dates with the bill.

Put the request in writing if you have not already, and keep a copy of it along with proof of when it was sent. When the records arrive, note the date. If a bill for copying shows up and the records came back inside 30 days of your request, that timing is the fact to raise first. Keep the bill itself and anything that shows which records it covers, since that paperwork is what decides whether Labor Code 5307.9 applies to your situation.

If you asked for copies of your own claim records and were billed for them, or you are not sure whether the 30-day period covered your request, gather the request date, the response date, and the bill before you raise the issue. Yazdchi Law P.C. reviews each matter on its own facts. Call (661) 273-1780 or use the contact form for a free initial consultation.