Unlike other 2024 rate changes — like the California minimum wage (including computer professionals and licensed physicians) and Social Security and California State Disability Insurance (SDI) withholding — the California Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) has announced that on January 1, 2024, the minimum and maximum temporary total disability (TTD) rates will not change. This means the minimum TTD rate will remain $242.86, and the maximum TTD rate will remain $1,619.15 per week.
Workers’ compensation is a no-fault insurance system that employers are required to have so that if an employee gets injured on the job, they can receive temporary disability benefits while they’re off work and recovering from their injury. Temporary disability payments typically are two-thirds of the pre-tax wages the employee will lose while recovering from the job-related injury, up to a statutory maximum amount (California’s TTD rates).
Under California Labor Code section 4453(a) (10), the weekly TTD rate must be increased by an amount equal to the percentage increase in the State Average Weekly Wage (SAWW) as compared to the prior year.
The SAWW is the average weekly wage in California paid to employees covered by unemployment insurance for the 12 months ending March 31 in the year preceding the injury, as reported by the U.S. Department of Labor. This year, in the 12 months ending March 31, 2023, the SAWW declined from $1,651 to $1,642, which means the TTD rates will not change this year.
Additionally, under California Labor Code section 4659(c), workers with a date of injury on or after January 1, 2003, who are receiving life pension (LP) or permanent total disability (PTD) benefits are also entitled to have their weekly LP or PTD rate adjusted based on the SAWW so those rates will remain unchanged in 2024.
Katie Culliton, Editor, CalChamber
CalChamber members can read more about Benefits During Workers’ Compensation in the HR Library. Not a member? Learn how to power your business with a CalChamber membership.
