You receive an Employer's First Report of Injury (5020) but accurate weekly wages cannot be determined. How should TD be determined?

• A. average actual weekly earnings and pay TD accordingly
• B. pay min TD
• C. pay Max TD
• D. Delay payment of TD and request a wage statement

Answer: (A)

Temporary disability benefits in California are based on two-thirds of the worker’s average weekly wage, with a cap. When you can’t determine the weekly wages precisely from the Employer’s First Report of Injury, you should use the average actual weekly earnings that can be established from the wage information you do have and start paying TD at that rate. This approach gets benefits started promptly and reflects the worker’s actual earnings as data becomes available. If a wage statement later clarifies higher or lower earnings, recalculate the AWW and adjust TD accordingly, including any necessary retroactive adjustments. Delaying TD or using a fixed minimum or maximum without reflecting the actual earnings would misstate the benefit, so begin with the average actual weekly earnings and adjust as more information comes in.