This law requires the Division of Workers’ Compensation to provide information, help, and advice to employees, employers, and other interested parties. The goal is to ensure that benefits are properly and promptly supplied and to help resolve disputes informally.

If you're involved in a workers' compensation case in California, you can seek help from an information and assistance officer. These officers explain your rights and obligations, and can help resolve issues if you haven't filed an application yet or don't have legal representation. If needed, they may refer your case to the right branch within the Division of Workers’ Compensation for further guidance. They'll also make sure all relevant parties get copies of important documents.

This law explains that after reviewing all provided information, including reports from within the Division of Workers’ Compensation, an information and assistance officer will give a recommendation. This recommendation is then sent to the involved parties or their representatives.

If you submit a case to an information and assistance officer in the Workers’ Compensation Division, the deadline to take legal action (statute of limitations) is paused while they review it. Additionally, the pause continues for 60 days after they give their advice or recommendation.

This section states that anyone can apply for benefits without being stopped by anything in this chapter. When applying, any written evidence or reports used must follow specific rules about what evidence is allowed, as outlined starting in Section 5700.