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Teaching Tool · Deadline Checker

The most dangerous dates in workers' comp — calculated for you.

More claims are lost to the calendar than to the facts. Pick your state and your injury date, and we'll calculate your key windows — with honest notes about the exceptions, because deadline law has more of them than any insurer will volunteer.

Reviewed August 2026 Educational — verify with your state agency

For gradual (cumulative) injuries, use the date you first knew — or a doctor told you — the condition was work-related.

These are the general statutory windows — real deadline law includes exceptions in both directions (employer knowledge, paid benefits extending windows, minors, cumulative trauma, defective notices). A passed date on this page is a reason to act immediately, not a reason to give up. Verify anything important with your state agency or a free consultation.

Why deadlines dominate workers' comp

The two deadlines compared Two horizontal bars starting from the same day-zero line. The short amber bar is the report-to-employer deadline, often thirty days or less. The long bar is the formal claim filing deadline, often one to three years. Day 0 — the injury Clock 1 Report to your employer — often 30 days or less. Some states: days. Clock 2 File the formal claim — often 1 to 3 years Surviving Clock 2 means nothing if Clock 1 already ran out. Report first, in writing, today.

Two clocks start the moment you're hurt, and they're different in every state:

  • The reporting window — how long you have to tell your employer. Short (usually 30 days, sometimes less), and the single most common source of claim denials.
  • The filing deadline — how long you have to make your claim formal with the state. Longer (one to three years), and nearly absolute once it passes.

The trap is the gap between them: workers report, benefits flow for a while, everything seems fine — and the formal filing deadline quietly passes in the background. Reporting is not filing. If you take one thing from this tool, take that.

Third clocks exist too

Appeal windows after denials, treatment-appeal deadlines printed on UR letters, Florida's quiet-closure rule after a year of inactivity — each notice you receive can start its own clock. Read every letter for a date, and calendar it the day it arrives.

Think you've missed one?

Exceptions are real and used every day: employers who knew about the injury, notices that never explained your rights, benefit payments that extended windows, discovery rules for gradual injuries. The pattern in every state: late is worse than early, but late is usually far better than never — and only someone who knows your state's exceptions can tell you which apply. That's a free consultation, this week.

Read next

The First 24 Hours

Beat every deadline at once: report today, in writing.

Read the guide →

Your State's Guide

The full rules behind these dates — benefits, doctors, disputes.

Find your state →

Do I Need a Lawyer?

Deadline trouble is one of the strongest signals. Check honestly.

Take the check →