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The Division of Workers’ Compensation has posted on its website fact sheets and claim forms for injured workers in Chinese, Korean, Tagalog and Vietnamese. The documents were previously only available in English and Spanish.

The fact sheets include questions and answers regarding temporary and permanent disability, qualified medical evaluators and agreed medical evaluators, utilization review, and the Uninsured Employers Benefits Trust Fund. The DWC 1 claim form, which workers file with employers, has also been translated.

The translations were produced pursuant to AB 438, which requires DWC to make available workers’ compensation information in the four specified languages.

The California Dymally-Alatorre Bilingual Services Act, which was enacted in 1973, requires that all state agencies translate materials into any language spoken by 5 percent or more of those served and hire bilingual staff. Previously, the Labor Code mandated that some of the worker’s compensation forms be prepared in English and Spanish, and was silent as to any other language. The obligation of the DWC was clarified by AB 438 which provides that both the DWC and the DIR shall be subject to the Dymally-Alatorre Bilingual Services Act, for purposes of the forms and notices that are required to be provided to injured workers. The new law required the Department of Industrial Relations and the Division of Workers’ Compensation to make specified forms, notices, and fact sheets available in Chinese, Tagalog, Korean, and Vietnamese. The bill also required the Administrative Director to make recommendations regarding any other documents that should be translated into languages other than English, as specified, and require the department and the division to submit the recommendations and any translated documents to the Legislature.

DWC began translating materials before the AB 438 January 2018 deadline required by the bill, and additional materials are in progress. Among them are the application for the Return-to-Work Supplement Program, the Supplemental Job Displacement Non-Transferable Voucher and a glossary of terms relevant to workers’ compensation.

The translated forms and guides can be found on DWC’s website.