California pays two completely different disability benefits, and the switch between them is where injured workers get blindsided. Temporary disability replaces your paycheck while you heal. Permanent disability compensates what never heals. Different statutes, different weekly rates, different caps — and the handoff moment cuts most workers’ checks by more than half. Every figure below is computed by the rating engine for 2026 injuries.
Temporary disability: wage replacement
TD pays two-thirds of your average weekly wage, tax-free, between the 2026 statutory floor of $264.61 and cap of $1,764.11 per week (Lab. Code §4653). It runs while you are temporarily unable to work — and generally stops at 104 weeks of payments within five years of the injury (§4656; a short list of serious conditions extends it to 240). It also ends when you return to work or reach permanent and stationary.
Permanent disability: the rating
PD starts where TD ends. A physician assigns whole-person impairment; the schedule adjusts it for occupation and age; the final percentage sets a statutory number of weeks (§4658), each paid at the PD rate — $160 to $290 per week for post-2013 injuries (§4453). Engine-computed: a 20% PD rating is 75.5 weeks — $21,895 at the maximum rate. The full percentage-to-dollars table is the money chart, and how PD is calculated walks the pipeline.
The cliff at P&S
Here is the number nobody warns people about. TD tracks your wage; PD does not:
AWW $1,200 → TD $800/wk · PD $290/wk
AWW $3,000 → TD $1,764.11/wk (capped) · PD $290/wk
The day you are declared permanent and stationary, a $1,200-a-week earner’s check drops from $800 to $290 — a 64% cut — and a high earner’s drops 84%. The PD money is a fixed total (weeks × rate), not open-ended wage replacement; that is why the rating percentage, not the weekly rate, is where PD cases are fought. Every point of rating is worth real money — see what a rating is worth.
Side by side
| Temporary disability | Permanent disability | |
|---|---|---|
| Pays for | Lost wages while healing | Permanent loss of function |
| Weekly rate (2026) | 2/3 of AWW · $264.61–$1,764.11 | Flat $160–$290 |
| How long | Until RTW or P&S · 104-wk cap (§4656) | Fixed weeks set by the rating % (§4658) |
| Total amount | Open-ended up to the cap | Fixed: weeks × rate (the money chart) |
| The fight is over | Work status & the 104-week clock | The rating percentage & apportionment |
Track both in one place
The calculator computes the PD side live — string, weeks, dollars — and its TD exposure card runs the §4656 clock on your actual TD periods. The handoff moment itself (P&S/MMI) is a medical-legal call made in AME/QME reports. Wage figures assume accurate AWW — earnings disputes change both benefits. Estimates for informational use; not legal advice.