"My check got smaller."

Ask for a written explanation and the calculation. You are entitled to know how the number was reached.

Legitimate reasons

You returned to work at reduced hours or reduced pay. You may be owed temporary partial disability — two-thirds of the difference — which is frequently not paid because nobody calculates it. More.

You became permanent and stationary. Temporary disability ends and permanent disability begins — a different and much lower schedule. For a 2026 date of injury the TD maximum is $1,764.11/week; the PD maximum is $290/week — the figure § 4453(b)(9) sets for injuries on or after January 1, 2014. Both are keyed to your date of injury, not to today's calendar. (One exception runs the other way: under § 4661.5, a temporary total disability payment made two years or more after the date of injury is recomputed at the rates in effect when that payment is made.) What P&S means.

You reached the 104-week limit. But check § 4656(c)(3) first — nine conditions get 240 weeks, including amputations, severe burns, high-velocity eye injuries, and chemical burns to the eyes. More.

The employer offered regular, modified, or alternative work, which can reduce permanent disability payments. More.

Errors worth checking

Your average weekly wage was computed wrong. Overtime counts. Bonuses, commissions and shift differentials count. And a second job counts — § 4453(c)(4) requires "due consideration" of earnings "from all sources and employments," and it is missed constantly because the administrator has only one employer's payroll. More.

You are being paid at your injury-year maximum instead of the current one. Under § 4661.5, once a temporary total disability payment is made two years or more after the date of injury, it is computed on the § 4453 earnings figures in effect on the date that payment is made — not the ones from your injury year. Injured in 2020 (max $1,299.43) and still on TD in 2026? You should be at $1,764.11 — a difference of $464.68 a week. (Both limbs matter: the payment must be temporary total disability and must fall two years or more after the date of injury. The statute also does not apply where recomputing would produce a lower payment.)

Permanent disability advances were overstated as credits against your award. Check them against your actual payment history.

And if it was late rather than reduced

§ 4650(d): a late indemnity payment is increased 10% automatically — "without application." You do not have to ask, and it routinely is not added.

Under § 5814, compensation unreasonably delayed or refused can be increased up to 25% or up to $10,000, whichever is less — two years from when the payment was due.

And where the employer has secured the payment of compensation under § 3700 — an insured or lawfully self-insured employer — § 5814.5 requires the Appeals Board to award attorney's fees paid by the employer, not out of your recovery, where payment is unreasonably delayed or refused after an award has issued. (Both limbs matter: it is an award-enforcement remedy, and it does not reach the illegally uninsured employer, who never secured payment under § 3700.) How penalties work.

Build the ledger

One page. Every payment: date issued, date received, period covered, amount.

Most of these disputes are won or lost on whether that document exists, and only you can build it.