Nothing. Workers’ Compensation claims are processed by attorneys who work under a contingency agreement, which means there is no charge unless there is a recovery. Our office will also arrange for a disability evaluation, complete with x-rays and MRI’s at no cost to you. In California, the current allowed fee is 15% to 18% of the recovery. For complex cases, such as athlete injury cases which involve multiple injuries and often multiple employers, the Santa Ana Board has allowed attorney fees up to 18%. This Summary was not meant to be exhaustive of the governing laws; rather, it was prepared as an introduction to the field. Moreover, while an athlete may have a valid claim this summary should not be taken as a guarantee that all claims will be successful or, if successful, that the amount recovered will fall within the range indicated earlier.

A retired professional athlete may be able to get workers’ compensation benefits in California if they signed a professional contract with a team or employer operating in the state, if they ever permanently resided in California at any point during their professional career, if they played for a team located in California, or if they retained a California-based representative (such as an agent or manager). Only one of these conditions must be met. Recent court decisions have stipulated that an athlete may be able to obtain benefits in California if they routinely played games in the state, even if they were primarily employed by a team based in a different state.

An athlete’s body is seldom in better shape at the end of their career versus the start of it, which points to the toll professional sports can take. However, not all athletes have a serious incident that results in a single, life-changing injury – or even an early, forced retirement. Many athletes instead experience “wear and tear” over the course of their careers. These collective injuries, which may include conditions like ongoing joint pain, are referred to as “cumulative trauma.” So long as you can prove your body sustained damage related to your job as a professional athlete, you potentially qualify for California workers’ compensation benefits for cumulative trauma, even if you have no specific, especially severe injury..