Steven James Foster

Siles & Foster is devoted exclusively to representing injured and disabled workers with Workers’ Compensation, Social Security Disability and SSI claims. Our Attorneys are certified specialists in Workers’ Compensation. We also represent individuals before the Bankruptcy Court for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy protection.

California St Univ Chico

Undergraduate Degree

CAL Northern School of Law

Law Degree

Workers' Compensation in Butte

California State Bar

California Applicants' Attorneys Association

2001 - Current

California State Bar  # 191271

Member

1997 - Current

California

Since 1997

• Free Consultation
• Contingent Fees

Q. My lawyer wants me to settle for 38,500 with no future medical. I’ve had this case for almost 1 year now.

December 19, 2024

A: You are not required to give up your right to medical care for your work injury. The settlement is likely based upon the findings of a Qualified Medical Evaluator (QME). The QME will help determine the value of your case by addressing your periods of temporary disability, level of permanent disability and need for future medical care. You need to ask your attorney how that figure was calculated.

Q. how do i look up worker comp law cases?

May 18, 2023

A: Your question is vague. If you are trying to find information about your case or other cases you can look it up here: https://eams.dwc.ca.gov/WebEnhancement/

Q. In 2020 I made $27,000 less the my annual salary due to furlough and pandemic so when I was injured in 2020 my AWR low

June 13, 2022

A: Yes, you can litigate the earnings issue before the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board.

Usually the insurance company will take your earning for the last 12 months and divide by 52 weeks to come up with your average. This method does not give your true "earnings capacity" at the time of your injury. "Earning capacity," as contemplated by Labor Code, § 4453, subd. (c)(4) relating to computation of average earnings, is the earning capacity of the injured employee at the TIME OF HIS INJURY. Lab Code, § 4453, subd. (c)(4) provides:

Where the employment is for less than 30 hours per week, or where for any reason the foregoing methods of arriving at the average weekly earnings cannot reasonably and fairly be applied, the average weekly earnings shall be taken at 100 percent of the sum which reasonably represents the average weekly earning capacity of the injured employee at the time of his or her injury, due consideration being given to his or her actual earnings from all sources and employments.

Also, in Goytia v. Workmen's Comp. App. Bd. (1970) 83 Cal. Rptr. 591, 1 Cal.3d 889, 894, the Supreme Court explained: "Earning capacity is not locked into a straitjacket of the actual earnings of the worker at the date of injury; the term contemplates his general over-all capability and productivity; the term envisages a dynamic, not a static, test and cannot be compressed into earnings at a given moment of time.” ... Read More