California
California Professional Athlete Workers' Compensation
California's rules for professional athletes are unusually specific and unusually complicated, which is why they deserve their own resource rather than a footnote.
Why California is treated differently
California Labor Code §3600.5 has specific provisions addressing professional athletes and can involve factors like where the athlete worked, California-based teams and percentages of duty days. These provisions shape whether a professional athlete's claim may be heard in California at all.
California law also recognizes cumulative injury concepts, which matters for players whose conditions developed across seasons rather than in a single event.
None of this determines an individual outcome. Jurisdiction analysis for professional athletes is fact-dependent and turns on the details of a specific career.