A Guidebook for Injured Workers 21
Chapter 5. Temporary Disability Benets
What are temporary disability benets?
If your injury prevents you from doing your usual job while recovering, you may be eligible for
temporary disability (TD) benets. TD benets are payments you receive if you lose wages because:
• Your treang doctor says you are unable to do your usual job for more than three days, or you are
hospitalized overnight;
and
• Your employer does not oer you other work that pays your usual wages while you recover.
What are the dierent types of TD benets?
There are two types of TD benets:
• If you cannot work at all while recovering, you receive temporary total disability (TTD) payments.
• If you can do some work while recovering and your employer oers you this type of work, you
receive temporary paral disability (TPD) payments if your wages while recovering are below a
maximum limit set by law.
How much are TD benets?
As a general rule, TD benets are two-thirds of the gross (pre-tax) wages you lose while you’re
recovering from a job injury. However, you can’t receive more than a maximum weekly amount or less
than a minimum weekly amount, as set by law.
You don’t pay federal, state, or local income taxes on TD benets. Also, you don’t pay Social Security
taxes, union dues, or rerement fund contribuons on these benets.
The informaon in this chapter gives you a rough idea of TD benet amounts. Determining exact TD
amounts can be complicated, especially for workers who:
• Had a second job when injured
• Had seasonal jobs
• Had wages that rose or fell
• Earned other income, such as ps, overme, bonuses, housing, clothing, or car allowances
• Were scheduled for a wage increase aer the date of injury
• Received TD benets more than two years aer the date of injury.
For ps on how to keep
your claim on track, see
p. 9. See also Chapter
10.
22 Workers’CompensaoninCalifornia
What payments do I receive if I’m on TTD?
Temporary total disability (TTD) payments are usually two-thirds of the wages you were earning before you were
injured.
Example: If the gross wages that you would be earning if you were not injured are $300 per week, your TTD payments
are $200 per week.
Maximum Limits on TTD Payments
You can’t receive more than a maximum weekly amount set by law. Therefore, if you earned more than a certain
amount of wages before you were injured, you could receive less than two-thirds of those wages.
The maximum depends on your date of injury. Here are some examples:
• If your date of injury is in 2014 and your gross wages before injury were more than $1,611.96 per week, your TTD
payments are the maximum: $1,074.64 per week.
• If your date of injury is in 2015 and your gross wages before injury were more than $1,654.94 per week, your TTD
payments are the maximum: $1,103.29 per week.
• If your date of injury is in 2016 and your gross wages before injury were more than $1,692.65 per week, your TTD
payments are the maximum: $1,128.43 per week.
For parcular examples, see p. 25.
Minimum TTD Payments for Low-Wage Workers
You can’t receive less than a minimum weekly amount set by law. Therefore, if you earned less than a certain amount of
wages before you were injured, you could receive more than two-thirds of those wages.
The minimum depends on your date of injury. Here are some examples:
• If your date of injury is in 2014 and your gross wages before injury were less than $241.79 per week, your TTD
payments are the minimum: $161.19 per week.
• If your date of injury is in 2015 and your gross wages before injury were less than $248.24 per week, your TTD
payments are the minimum: $165.49 per week.
• If your date of injury is in 2016 and your gross wages before injury were less than $253.89 per week, your TTD
payments are the minimum: $169.26 per week.
Parcular example: A part-me nurse’s aide was injured in 2015 and earned $200.00 per week in gross wages before
the injury. This worker receives TTD payments of $165.49 per week.
Other Benets Besides TD
• If you are hurt on the job, your employer must pay for medical care to help you recover. See
Chapter 2.
• You may be eligible for other nancial assistance, such as State Disability Insurance, if TD
payments are delayed or denied. To nd out about these benets, see Chapter 10.
• TD benets are paid only while you are recovering. Some injured workers later receive other types
of benets. To nd out about these other benets, see Chapters 6, 7, and 8.
• All public employers and private employers with 50 or more employees must grant job-protected
leave to workers who have a serious health problem or who need to care for a child or other
family member. This is governed by the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) and the federal Family
and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Job-protected leave may run concurrently with me o work while
receiving TD benets.
Chapter5.TemporaryDisabilityBenets
A Guidebook for Injured Workers 23
What payments do I receive if I’m on TPD?
Your employer may oer you dierent work that you can do safely while recovering, or your employer may
give you a reduced work schedule (see Chapter 6). If you don’t earn as much as you did before you were
injured, you may be eligible to receive temporary paral disability (TPD) payments. These are usually two-
thirds of your lost wages.
Example: If the gross wages you were earning before you were injured were $300 per week and you are
now back at work making $210 per week, your loss in wages is $90 per week. Your TPD payments are $60
per week (two-thirds of $90).
As with TTD benets, the law sets maximum limits and minimum amounts for TPD payments.
When do TD payments begin?
If your injury is covered by workers’ compensaon, your rst TD payment is due within 14 days aer your
employer learns that:
• You have a job injury or illness;
and
• Your treang doctor says your injury prevents you from doing your job.
You should receive this payment from the claims administrator. The claims administrator must also send
you a leer explaining how the payment amount was calculated.
Aer the rst payment, TD benets must be paid every two weeks, for as long as you are eligible.
Notices About TD Payments
The claims administrator must keep you up to date by sending leers that explain:
• How TD payment amounts were determined
• Reasons for delay or nonpayment of TD benets
• Reasons for changes in TD payment amounts
• Why TD benets are ending (with a list of all TD benets paid).
Chapter5.TemporaryDisabilityBenets
24 Workers’CompensaoninCalifornia
What happens if I don’t get my payments on time?
Somemes payments are delayed. If the claims administrator can’t determine whether your injury is
covered by workers’ compensaon or whether TD benets must be paid, he or she may delay your rst
TD payment while invesgang. A delay is usually not longer than 90 days.
If there is a delay, the claims administrator must send you a delay leer. It must explain:
• Why you won’t receive payments within the rst 14 days
• What informaon the claims administrator needs in order to decide if you are eligible for TD benets
• When a decision will be made.
If there are further delays, the claims administrator must send you addional delay leers. (Even if you
received delay leers, if the claims administrator doesn’t send you a leer denying your claim within 90
days aer you led the claim form or reported your injury, your claim is considered accepted in most
cases.)
Is the claims administrator required to pay a penalty for delays
in TD payments?
It depends. The claims administrator must pay you an addional 10 percent of the payment, if:
• The claims administrator sends a payment late;
and
• You led a claim form for your injury more than 14 days before the payment was due.
This is true even if there was a reasonable excuse for the delay. However, there’s no penalty if the claims
administrator can’t determine, in the rst 14 days aer your employer learned about your injury, whether
TD benets must be paid and sends you a delay leer as explained above.
You could be awarded a total of 25 percent of each late payment, up to $10,000, if there was no
reasonable excuse for the delay.
Chapter5.TemporaryDisabilityBenets
A Guidebook for Injured Workers 25
When do TD payments end?
TD payments end when:
• Your treang doctor says you can return to your usual job (whether or not you actually return to work);
or
• You return to your usual job or to modied or alternate work at your regular wages (or at wages
associated with a maximum limit on TTD payments); or
• You have reached a point where your condion is not improving and not geng worse (when this
happens, your condion is called “permanent and staonary”); or
• You were injured on or aer January 1, 2008, and received up to 104 weeks of TD benets within
ve years from the date of injury, or you were injured someme on or aer April 19, 2004, through
December 31, 2007, and received up to 104 weeks of TD benets within two years from the start of
payments. (Workers whose injuries involve acute and chronic hepas B, acute and chronic hepas C,
amputaons, severe burns, human immunodeciency virus, high-velocity eye injuries, chemical burns
to the eyes, pulmonary brosis, or chronic lung disease may receive up to 240 weeks of TD benets
within ve years from the date of injury.)
When TD payments end, the claims administrator must send you a leer explaining why the payments are
ending. The leer must list all TD payments sent to you. This leer must be sent within 14 days aer your
nal TD payment.
If your treang doctor says that you will never recover completely, you may be eligible to receive
permanent disability benets or a supplemental job displacement benet. See Chapters 7 and 8.
Chapter5.TemporaryDisabilityBenets
Temporary Total Disability Payments—Some Examples
OCCUPATION DATE OF INJURY GROSS WAGES BEFORE INJURY TTD PAYMENTS REASON
Carpenter 2014 $1,650 per week $1,074.64 per week This is the maximum for
workers injured in 2014
Line Worker 2015 $1,700 per week $1,103.29 per week This is the maximum for
workers injured in 2015
Secretary 2015 $1,200 per week $800 per week This is two-thirds of the
wages earned before injury
Baker & Janitor
(1 person with
2 jobs)
2015 $620 per week (baker)
$280 per week (janitor)
$900 per week total
$600 per week (if the
injury was caused by
the higher paying job)
This is two-thirds of the
wages from both jobs
combined
Truck Driver 2016
$1,300 per week $866.67 per week This is two-thirds of the
wages earned before injury
Accountant 2016 $1,800 per week $1,128.43 per week This is the maximum for
workers injured in 2016