When comp stops paying — denied claim, “delayed” status, or TD cut off mid-recovery — California quietly runs a second income system for exactly this gap: State Disability Insurance. Knowing the handoff rules is the difference between a hard month and a lost house.
When SDI applies
SDI pays when you cannot work and comp is not paying TD for that period: the claim is denied, under investigation, or the carrier stopped checks on a UR-driven release you dispute. The one hard rule is no double collection — SDI and TD cannot cover the same period. File through the EDD (SDI Online) with your physician’s certification as soon as TD stops; the claim can start while the comp fight continues.
The EDD gets paid back — from the carrier, not from you
When the comp case is later accepted or settles, the EDD asserts a reimbursement lien and recovers what it advanced out of the retroactive TD. Functionally, SDI is the state fronting your comp money while the carrier litigates — which is why using it is not “double dipping” but the system working as designed. The retro-TD math (and the penalty exposure for unreasonable delay) gets sorted at resolution.
The comparison that matters
TD pays two-thirds of gross wages tax-free within the statutory caps; SDI runs its own EDD schedule with its own cap — current figures live on the EDD’s site. For most wage levels they land close. The strategic point: SDI protects the household without weakening the comp claim — the disability certifications that support SDI are themselves evidence you could not work. (Don’t confuse SDI with federal SSDI, which has its own comp interplay and offset.) When the claim resolves, the PD side rates normally: price the string when the P&S report lands.
Estimates for informational use; not legal advice. SDI eligibility and rates are administered by the EDD.
Rate your spine right here
Same engine as the tables above — pick your occupation and age, slide the WPI from the report, and carry it into the full calculator when you’re ready.