Compromise and Release

Chapter 2 of Part 3 of Division 4 of the Labor Code deals with compromise and release for workers’ compensation claims in California.

Section 5000 provides that no contract, rule, or regulation can exempt the employer from liability for the compensation fixed by this division, but nothing in this division impairs specified rights or confers specified interests.

Section 5001 provides that compensation is the measure of the responsibility which the employer has assumed for injuries or deaths which occur to employees in his employment when subject to this division. No release of liability or compromise agreement is valid unless it is approved by the appeals board or referee.

Section 5002 states that a copy of the release or compromise agreement signed by both parties must immediately be filed with the appeals board. Upon filing with and approval by the appeals board, it may, without notice, of its own motion or on the application of either party, enter its award based upon the release or compromise agreement.

Section 5003 specifies that every release or compromise agreement is to be in writing and duly executed, and the signature of the employee or other beneficiary is attested by two disinterested witnesses or acknowledged before a notary public. The document is required to specify six items.

Section 5004 states that, in case of death, there is also stated in the release or compromise agreement six specified items of information.

Section 5005 provides that, in any case involving a claim of occupational disease or cumulative injury, the employee and any employer, or any insurance carrier for any employer, may enter into a compromise and release agreement settling either all or any part of the employee’s claim, including a part of his claim against any employer.

Section 5006 provides that a determination of facts by the appeals board under this chapter has no collateral estoppel effect on a subsequent criminal prosecution and does not preclude litigation of those same facts in the criminal proceeding.