TD late payment calculator. The 10% increase in Labor Code 4650(d).

The rule

Labor Code 4650 sets when indemnity is due. The first TD payment is due no later than 14 days after the employer has knowledge of the injury and the disability, unless liability is denied first. After that, TD and PD are paid every two weeks on the day set with the first payment. Under 4650(d), if any indemnity payment is not made on time, the late payment is increased by 10 percent and paid to the worker without application. Nobody has to file a petition for it. It is owed with the payment.

The statute has three exceptions:

• The claim form window. No increase applies to a payment due before, or within 14 days after, the date the claim form was submitted to the employer under Labor Code 5401.
• The delay notice. No increase applies when, within the first 14 days, the employer cannot yet decide whether TD is owed and tells the worker why, what information it needs and when it expects to have it, in the manner the DWC's rules prescribe. This covers the first payment decision, not a later missed installment.
• Salary continuation. No increase applies if the employer continues the worker's wages under a salary continuation plan that meets the definition in 4650(g).

How the tool computes

Enter the amount of the payment, the date it was due and the date it was paid. If it was paid after the due date and no exception is checked, the tool adds 10 percent of that payment. The increase is flat: it is 10 percent whether the payment was one day late or sixty. The tool also shows the date two years after the due date, because Labor Code 5814(g) bars an action for a 5814 penalty on that payment after then.

A worked example

A biweekly TD payment of $1,600 was due on Monday, August 3, 2026 and was paid on Wednesday, August 19, 2026, 16 days late. None of the exceptions applies. The 4650(d) increase is $160.00, so the worker should have received $1,760.00. A claim for a 5814 penalty on that payment must be brought by August 3, 2028.

If the same payment had been due within 14 days after the claim form was submitted, no increase would apply.

4650(d) and 5814 are different penalties

The 4650(d) increase is automatic, flat and owed on any late payment. Labor Code 5814 is different. It applies when payment was unreasonably delayed or refused, and the WCAB may increase the delayed amount by up to 25 percent or $10,000, whichever is less, using its discretion to reach a fair balance between the parties. An employer that finds its own violation before the worker claims a penalty can self-impose 10 percent within 90 days of discovery under 5814(b), in place of the 5814(a) penalty. Any 5814 award is reduced by a 4650(d) increase already paid on the same payment (5814(d)). This tool computes only the 4650(d) increase, since 5814 turns on whether the delay was unreasonable.

What it leaves out

• Whether the payment was due. Disputes over the date of knowledge, the rate, or whether TD was owed at all are the real work. Check the rate with the TD rate calculator.
• Insurer and employer reimbursement. 4650(e) and (f) govern when an insured employer reimburses its insurer for the increase. That does not change what the worker is owed.
• Medical treatment delays, which follow other rules.
• Accrued penalties at settlement. Under 5814(c), approval of a compromise and release or stipulations is conclusively presumed to resolve accrued penalty claims unless they are expressly excluded. Check the payment history before settlement documents are signed.

Using it on a file

The fastest way to find late payments is to set the benefit printout beside the TD periods and due dates, payment by payment. The temporary disability guide explains the payment cycle; the glossary covers the 4650 increase, the 5814 penalty, compromise and release and stipulations with request for award. PlaintiffStack's workers' comp benefits audit flags late-payment exposure across a claim's payment history for a person to review; see the workers' comp practice page.