Decisions issued by the Iowa Division of Workers' Compensation (DWC), Iowa Court of Appeals, and Iowa Supreme Court are available online.
DWC decisions
Time Period
The DWC website contains agency decisions dating from the year 2000 to present.
How to Search
To search for a decision, select the year of the decision, and then use your browser's find (Control-f or Command-f) to search for key words or numbers.
Link
To view and search decisions issued by DWC, click here.
About Transition to New Webpage
The Sharepoint system which previously hosted the decisions list is being phased out by Iowa Workforce Development. In service of that broader goal, DWC needed to move away from Sharepoint and into a new tool to convey the published decisions. The replaced (Sharepoint) system required manual upload of documents by a member of DWC's staff, this manual process introduced a level of human error which resulted in some decisions never being published due to sheer inadvertence. Additionally, after implementation of WCES, DWC obtained new tools to issue certain decisions/orders; however, these new decisions/orders are not reproduced in a manner which can easily be uploaded to the Sharepoint site. Furthermore, decisions filed by the district and appellate courts were never included in the Sharepoint results, despite their relevance to agency proceedings.
As a result of implementation of WCES, DWC now possesses a single database which maintains all relevant documents in a single repository. This single repository can be searched in an automated fashion and the results can be displayed to the public without manual intervention by DWC staff. In preparation for this shift, DWC uploaded each of the nearly 20,000 decisions previously made public on the Sharepoint site into their respective digital case files. This process was exhaustive and incredibly time-consuming. However, the work was worthwhile, as it not only allows for automated compilation of the decisions list, it also allows individuals immediate access to decisions from within their own case file, as well as dramatically accelerates DWC's ability to respond to copy requests, as a staff member is no longer required to manually search multiple potential locations for decisions dated from the year 2000 to present. In review of the results generated by the new decisions list tool, we believe our efforts at increasing transparency and accuracy in publication have been successful, in that we have identified hundreds of additional documents which are now available to the public.
While there are undoubtedly "better" solutions available within the market, it is important to recognize DWC does not have unlimited financial or staff resources. That being said, DWC does our best to replicate and enhance services to the public. We believe we have balanced those interests and accomplished those goals in adoption of the new decisions tool. The new tool is:
- Automated, making it a better use of limited staff resources;
- Includes more accurate and complete documentation;
- Has streamlined data into a single source leading to increased accessibility;
- Met the broader goal of moving away from unsupported programs; and
- Was completed at no additional cost to taxpayers.
Iowa Court of Appeals Opinions
To access opinions issued by the Iowa Court of Appeals, click here.
Iowa Supreme Court Opinions
To access opinions issued by the Iowa Supreme Court, click here.
Iowa State Bar Association
The Iowa State Bar Association (ISBA) typically publishes on its website decisions issued by the DWC, Iowa Court of Appeals, and Iowa Supreme Court.
The ISBA typically posts decisions on its website within a week of their issuance.
To view decisions on the ISBA website, click here.