If you receive a denial, you generally have 60 days from the mailing date of the denial letter to request a hearing with the Oregon Workers’ Compensation Board. Your request can be by letter, email, or fax, and it should identify you, the claim, the denial date, and that you are asking for an expedited hearing. If your appeal arrives late, you may have to prove you mailed or sent it within the 60‑day window, so do not delay. Hearings are formal but designed to be accessible; you can and should have representation. Separately, if your claim is closed and you disagree with the closure or the permanent disability award, you have 60 days to ask the Workers’ Compensation Division’s Appellate Review Unit for reconsideration. Those are two different processes: hearings for denials, reconsideration for closures.

While an appeal is pending, continue treating and keep your work‑status notes current. If the dispute is about whether a condition should be accepted, ask your attending physician to write a clear opinion that explains diagnosis, how work caused or worsened it, and why treatment and time‑loss are medically necessary. If the issue is timeliness of reporting or whether an injury occurred at work, put together a short written statement and any witness names. The earlier we start gathering the right evidence, the more likely we will be to meet the deadlines and win the benefits you should have received from the start.

We recommend contacting us as soon as you receive a denial or a closure notice. Oregon’s deadlines are strict, but they are also predictable, and we can help you meet them. The system gives you a straightforward path to challenge decisions-you just need to take the first step on time.

Sources: Oregon WCD “Appealing a closed claim” at https://wcd.oregon.gov/worker/pages/appealing-claim.aspx and Workers’ Compensation Board appeal guidance noting the 60‑day deadline at https://secure.sos.state.or.us/oard/viewSingleRule.action?ruleVrsnRsn=314309.