Anaheim or Santa Ana: Which Orange County Workers’ Comp Office Hears Your Case

If you live or were hurt in Orange County, your case may be heard at Anaheim or Santa Ana, the county’s two workers’ comp offices. The ZIP-code locator is a starting point, not the complete venue rule: It sends Newport Beach (92660) to Anaheim and Costa Mesa (92627) to Santa Ana. Check which county the law permits and, if a case already exists, follow the office named in your notices. Asking to move an established case takes a petition explaining good cause.

Two offices, two different addresses

Each Orange County office is a trial court where a workers’ compensation judge decides disputes, and each has an Information & Assistance Unit and a Disability Evaluation Unit.

• The Anaheim district office is at 1065 N. Link, Suite 170. It also houses the units for the Uninsured Employers Benefits Trust Fund and the Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund.
• The Santa Ana district office is at 2 MacArthur Place, Suite 600.

Papers sent to the wrong office, or a hearing attended at the wrong one, cost time. Your ADJ notice and every hearing notice name the office; use that, not the address you remember.

The county comes first, then the ZIP code

Labor Code section 5501.5 permits filing in the county where the injured worker lives when the Application is filed, the county where the injury allegedly occurred (or the last alleged injurious exposure for cumulative injuries), or, for a represented worker, the county where the worker’s attorney has a principal place of business. In a county with more than one WCAB office, the statute allows a qualifying location and requires the worker’s written consent to the selected site. DWC’s ZIP-code locator shows which office serves a ZIP code. On November 12, 2026, it listed:

• Anaheim for Anaheim (92806), Buena Park (90620), Yorba Linda (92886) and Newport Beach (92660)
• Santa Ana for Santa Ana (92701), Irvine (92612), Costa Mesa (92627), Huntington Beach (92647), Lake Forest (92630) and San Juan Capistrano (92675)

Newport Beach is the surprise: Its neighbor Costa Mesa goes to Santa Ana, but Newport Beach goes to Anaheim. Run your own ZIP code before you file. The lookup is an office locator; it does not replace the county and site choices in section 5501.5.

If you live and work in different counties

If you live in Riverside, San Bernardino or Los Angeles County and were hurt at work in Orange County, residence and injury location can support different county choices. For example, a worker living in Corona who was hurt in Anaheim could choose Riverside County or Orange County under those grounds. A represented worker may also have the attorney-office option. For that route, section 5501.5(c) gives the employer 30 days from receipt of the required information request form to object. If the employer objects, filing must use the residence or injury-location ground. If a permitted county has no WCAB office, subsection (d) provides nearest-office alternatives.

Think about the choice before filing, because changing it later is harder. Consider where you can most easily appear in person, where your doctors and witnesses are, and whether a case already exists. If the claims administrator or another party has already filed an Application, the case may already have an office; check for an ADJ number before filing a second Application. Our Los Angeles guide covers the first claim-form and filing steps.

Moving a case to another office

Once a case exists, use the office handling it unless an order changes venue. DWC’s I&A guide 20 says a petition for change of venue can be filed only after the WCAB case is established and must be filed at the office currently handling the case. Send copies to every party with a proof of service. Under Labor Code section 5501.6, a change requires good cause, and the petition must state the specific reasons.

Explain the reason with facts and dates, such as a move to another county after the case was filed. If you rely on convenience for witnesses, the statute requires their names and addresses and a description of what they would testify about. If a hearing is close, prepare for it at the current office until an order says otherwise.

If your employer had no insurance

California employers must provide workers’ compensation coverage. When an illegally uninsured employer does not pay, the state’s Uninsured Employers Benefits Trust Fund can pay the claim and then try to recover from the employer. DWC’s UEBTF fact sheet says you must first open a WCAB case, and the fund can pay only if you correctly name your employer by its legal name and serve it through the formal service process. File your papers with the WCAB and the fund at the same time. The UEBTF unit is in Anaheim; file your WCAB papers at the office selected for your case.

Before you go to either office

Parking and filing differ. At Anaheim, parking is free and Metrolink’s Anaheim Canyon station is behind the building; visitors check in at the front counter in Suite 170. At Santa Ana, parking around the building costs up to $18 a day, according to DWC, and documents can be stamped and filed with the counter clerks. Court sits in a morning session (8:30 a.m. to noon) and an afternoon session (1:30 to 5 p.m.), and DWC lists free injured-worker workshops by Zoom at 3 p.m., in English on the first Friday of each month and in Spanish on the third Friday.

Bring your ADJ number, the hearing notice and copies of anything you plan to file. If you do not have a lawyer, the Information & Assistance officer at your office can explain forms and procedure, though not act as your lawyer.