Why Is My Temporary Disability (TD) Stopping?

July 22, 2026 · Employment Litigation

General education about California workers’ compensation concepts and related employment-law issues—not legal advice. Your facts, injury date, and medical reports control. This is not a Workplace Rights Advocacy case result.

First: what temporary disability is for

Temporary disability (TD) benefits replace part of your wages when a doctor finds that a work injury temporarily prevents you from working, or limits you to modified work that pays less. In California, that indemnity is generally about two-thirds of your average weekly earnings, subject to statutory minimums and maximums.

Because it is “temporary,” it ends when the temporary period ends—or when another legal limit applies. Getting a stop notice is stressful, but it is also common. The key is understanding which reason the claims administrator is using.

Common reasons TD stops

You reached MMI / permanent and stationary status. Once your condition stabilizes, temporary disability usually ends and the claim moves toward permanent disability evaluation. See What Is MMI? and Why MMI Stops TD.
You returned to work. Full return to your usual and customary job typically ends temporary total disability. If you return to lower-paying modified work, you may instead receive temporary partial disability based on wage loss—until that temporary phase ends.
Your doctor released you to full duty (or found no temporary disability), even if you disagree with the report.
You hit a statutory TD cap. For many injuries, temporary disability is limited to a maximum number of weeks within a set period (commonly discussed as up to 104 weeks within five years of the date of injury, with longer caps for certain severe injuries). Caps are technical—confirm the rule that applies to your injury date and diagnosis.
The insurer disputes your claim or your disability status—for example, after a utilization review decision, a medical-legal report, or alleged lack of medical support.
Your claim settled, or another benefit election or credit applies under the facts of your case.

How to read the stop letter

Claims administrators should explain why benefits are ending and point to the medical report or legal basis. Read the letter carefully and match it against your latest doctor’s report:

Does your doctor actually say MMI / P&S?
Are you still on temporary work restrictions that keep you off work or on reduced wages?
Is the insurer counting weeks toward a cap, and do those weeks look accurate?
Were you offered genuine modified work that matches your restrictions?

If the paperwork and the medicine do not line up, treat the cutoff as something to challenge—not as the final word.

What to do if your TD was cut off

Practical next steps:

Get your complete medical reports and the benefit-termination notice in writing
Ask your treating doctor to clarify whether you are truly at MMI and what your current work status is
Track missed payments, wage loss, and job offers or refusals of modified work
Speak with a workers’ compensation attorney about benefit disputes and medical-legal evaluations
Separately consider whether your employer is violating leave or disability laws as you try to return— including FMLA / CFRA, accommodation, or wrongful termination issues

Workplace Rights Advocacy focuses on California civil employment claims. Work-injury cases often sit at the intersection of workers’ compensation and employment law. If your TD dispute is mainly about indemnity checks inside the workers’ compensation system, a workers’ compensation specialist is usually the right first call. If your employer is forcing you out, denying accommodations, or retaliating around the injury, that may be an employment case we can evaluate.

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