California Labor Code § 4650 requires workers’ compensation insurance companies to increase your temporary disability or permanent disability payments by 10% whenever they are late. This way, the insurer is incentivized to always pay you on time for fear of having to fork out hefty financial penalties.
Frequently-Asked-Questions
When do I get paid, and how often?
Workers’ comp disability payments must begin within 14 days of the insurer’s knowledge of your injury. Any subsequent payments must be made every two weeks. Otherwise, payments are considered “late” and are subject to the 10% penalty.1
What if I get paid on time, but not for the full amount I am owed?
You are entitled to an extra 10% of the overdue portion of your disability payment.
What if my workers’ comp payment is really late?
If your disability payment is not merely late but “unreasonably delayed,” then the late penalty is increased from 10% of your late payment to the lesser of:
- 25% of your late payment or
- $10,000.
What qualifies as “unreasonably delayed” depends on your specific case.
Note that if the insurer discovers its lateness before you make a late claim, the insurer is required to pay only a 10% penalty as long as it is paid within 90 days of the date of discovery.2
California Labor Code 4650 entitles workers to a 10% increase in late workers’ comp disability payments.
Read our related article, What are the penalties for late payment of workers’ compensation benefits?
Legal References
- California Labor Code 4650 LC – Time of first payment for temporary or permanent disability indemnity; Increase for late payments; Reimbursement of insurer; Salary continuation plan. The pertinent text of the statute reads as follows:
(d) If any indemnity payment is not made timely as required by this section, the amount of the late payment shall be increased 10 percent and shall be paid, without application, to the employee, unless the employer continues the employee’s wages under a salary continuation plan, as defined in subdivision (g). No increase shall apply to any payment due prior to or within 14 days after the date the claim form was submitted to the employer under Section 5401. No increase shall apply when, within the 14-day period specified under subdivision (a), the employer is unable to determine whether temporary disability indemnity payments are owed and advises the employee, in the manner prescribed in rules and regulations adopted pursuant to Section 138.4, why payments cannot be made within the 14-day period, what additional information is required to make the decision whether temporary disability indemnity payments are owed, and when the employer expects to have the information required to make the decision.
See also Zurich North American v. Workers’ Comp. Appeals Bd. (Driver) (Cal. App. 2d Dist., 2013), 78 Cal. Comp. Cases 515; Fresno Unified School Dist., PSI v. Workers’ Comp. Appeals Bd. (Barajas) (Cal. App. 5th Dist., 2012), 77 Cal. Comp. Cases 566. - Labor Code 5814.