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Georgia workers’ compensation has three main wage benefits, and this is the one people understand least — partly because it applies to a situation that feels ambiguous: you are working, but you are worse off.
TPD fills the gap. If you return to work but earn less because of your injury, it covers part of the difference.
It commonly comes up with light duty work at reduced hours or a lower-paying modified role.
The benefit is generally two thirds of the difference between your average weekly wage before the injury and what you are earning now, subject to a statutory maximum.
So if you earned $900 a week before and now earn $600 on light duty, the $300 gap produces roughly $200 a week in TPD.
The statutory maximum is updated periodically by the State Board, so the current figure should be checked rather than assumed from an older source.
TPD in Georgia is generally available for up to 350 weeks from the date of injury.
That is a different and shorter clock than the 400 weeks that generally applies to temporary total disability for a non-catastrophic injury. The two limits are frequently confused.
Both run from the date of the accident rather than from when benefits begin, so time spent on other benefit types consumes the same calendar.
TTD applies when you cannot work at all, paying roughly two thirds of your full average weekly wage.
TPD applies when you are working but earning less, paying roughly two thirds of the shortfall.
PPD is different in kind — it compensates lasting impairment based on the rating assigned at maximum medical improvement, from a statutory schedule, rather than replacing lost wages.
Wage calculation. Overtime, second jobs, and irregular earnings all complicate the average weekly wage, and an understated AWW reduces every benefit that flows from it.
Whether the reduction is injury-related. Insurers may argue reduced earnings stem from something else — business conditions, a voluntary schedule change — rather than the injury.
Refused light duty. Declining a suitable, physician-approved light duty offer can suspend benefits rather than trigger TPD, which is why that decision needs care.
Generally two thirds of the difference between your pre-injury average weekly wage and your current earnings, subject to a statutory maximum that the State Board updates periodically.
Generally up to 350 weeks from the date of injury. That is a shorter limit than the 400 weeks that applies to temporary total disability for a non-catastrophic injury, and the two are often confused.
TTD applies when you cannot work at all and pays about two thirds of your full average weekly wage. TPD applies when you are working but earning less, and pays about two thirds of the shortfall.
That is a common dispute. Insurers argue reduced earnings stem from business conditions rather than the injury. Documentation connecting your restrictions to the reduced hours is what usually decides it.
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