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What is Temporary Disability (TD)?

Temporary disability (TD) replaces lost wages while a California work injury keeps you off your regular job. It includes TTD and TPD.

What is Temporary Disability (TD)?: Temporary Disability, or TD, is wage-replacement money paid when a work injury temporarily prevents you from doing your regular job while you recover. There are two types: Temporary Total Disability (TTD), when you cannot work at all, and Temporary Partial Disability (TPD), when you can work but lose wages because of restrictions or reduced hours.

The short answer

Temporary Disability (TD) is wage-replacement money paid when a work injury temporarily prevents you from doing your regular job while you recover. It is meant for the healing period—not as a permanent paycheck.

There are two common types:

Temporary Total Disability (TTD) when you cannot work at all
Temporary Partial Disability (TPD) when you can work but lose wages because of restrictions or reduced hours

How TD relates to recovery and MMI

TD generally continues while you are temporarily disabled and still recovering. Once your condition is permanent and stationary or at MMI, temporary disability usually ends and the claim often shifts toward permanent disability and return-to-work issues. Our posts on what MMI means and why TD payments stop explain that transition in more detail.

How much you receive is a separate question. See how much TD pays.

Disclaimer

This page is general education about California workers’ compensation—not legal advice. Your facts, dates, and medical reports control. Workplace Rights Advocacy focuses on civil employment claims. Benefit and medical disputes inside the workers’ compensation system are often best handled by a workers’ compensation attorney. If an employer is forcing you out, denying accommodations, or retaliating around a work injury, that may be an employment case we can evaluate.

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