New Orleans Temporary Total Disability Benefits Lawyer
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC represents injured workers in New Orleans, Orleans Parish, and communities across South Louisiana and Mississippi, and a large share of those clients come to us at the same moment: a doctor has taken them off work, the paychecks have stopped, and the compensation check has not arrived or has arrived at the wrong amount. Our firm handles workers’ compensation as the center of its practice, and temporary total disability benefits are the lifeline that keeps a household running while an injury heals.
A New Orleans temporary total disability benefits lawyer spends a surprising amount of time on questions that sound simple and are not. What is the correct average weekly wage? Did the adjuster count overtime, per diem, and second-job earnings? Why did payments stop when the surgeon never released the worker? Did the insurer’s own doctor, who examined you once, quietly overrule the physician who has treated you for months? Temporary total disability, usually shortened to TTD, pays roughly two-thirds of your average weekly wage while a medical provider says you cannot work, and nearly every dispute over it comes back to the wage calculation, the medical restrictions, or both.
How Temporary Total Disability Works for Louisiana Workers
TTD in Louisiana is a wage replacement benefit, not a settlement and not compensation for pain. It is paid weekly at two-thirds of your average weekly wage, up to a maximum rate that is set by statute and tied to the date of your accident. That date matters: the cap that applies to you is fixed at the time of injury and is not adjusted afterward, and the cap itself is revised on a yearly schedule. A worker earning well above the cap will receive the cap, not two-thirds of what they actually made, which is why accurate wage evidence matters most for lower and middle earners, where every misclassified dollar of overtime changes the check.
The benefit is meant to last only as long as you are truly unable to work. In practice, that means it lasts as long as your treating physician documents that you cannot perform any work at all, or that your restrictions leave you unable to do anything the employer can offer. Once a doctor releases you with restrictions and the employer has suitable light duty, benefits typically shift. If you return to work but earn noticeably less than before the injury, a different benefit, supplemental earnings benefits, may apply. Under that program, payments equal two-thirds of the difference between your pre-injury wages and what you earn or are able to earn, and they are available when you cannot earn at least 90 percent of your old wages. The weeks you spent on TTD count against the 520-week ceiling that applies to supplemental earnings benefits, so the way your TTD period is documented can affect the benefits that follow it.
Disputes over TTD in Orleans Parish are heard by a workers’ compensation judge at the Office of Workers’ Compensation Administration, in the district court that serves New Orleans. Louisiana lets the worker choose the venue among a few options: the parish where the injury happened, the parish where you lived when you were hurt, or the parish where the employer has its principal place of business. Appeals from a final judgment of that judge go to the Louisiana courts of appeal, and Orleans Parish sits within the Fourth Circuit.
Why Choose Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe for a New Orleans TTD Claim
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC is a workers’ compensation firm serving injured workers in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Shreveport, and throughout South Louisiana and north Louisiana, along with Jackson, Madison, the Gulf Coast, Hattiesburg, Southaven, the Delta, and north Mississippi. We have recovered more than $100 million in settlements for our clients. The firm works on a no recovery, no fee basis, consultations are free, we advance the costs of the case, and our phones are answered 24 hours a day. Hablamos español, and Spanish-speaking clients can work with our team in their own language from the first call to the end of the case.
The people doing that work matter. Rob Lunsford, Founding Partner, has spent his entire legal career representing injured workers. Brad Baskin and Jennifer Priebe, both Partners, have been recognized by Best Lawyers, Super Lawyers, and The National Trial Lawyers, and the firm was ranked by Best Law Firms in 2026 for Workers’ Compensation Law, Claimants, in Jackson. Andrew Rueff has successfully tried dozens of jury and bench trials to verdict, and Keaton Belk and Erin Heimlicher round out the attorney team.
The results reflect the kind of injuries that keep people out of work for months: $685,000 for a surgical tech with a lower back injury, $600,000 for a construction worker with a complex back injury, $385,000 for a project manager injured when he was struck in his work vehicle, and $221,000 for a land-based oil rig worker with severe burns. Those are settlements, not TTD checks, but they illustrate why the weekly benefit fight matters: a worker who is off the job for a long recovery needs the weekly income protected while the larger claim develops. Clients regularly tell us what they valued most was having someone who fought with the insurance company at every step and took the time to listen.
Situations Where TTD Benefits Are Commonly Disputed
- Back, Neck, and Spine Injuries: Lumbar and cervical disc herniations often mean surgery and months of restrictions. Insurers frequently blame degenerative disc disease, then argue the worker should have been released sooner than the surgeon says.
- Shoulder and Knee Injuries: Torn rotator cuffs, SLAP tears, ACL tears, and meniscus tears usually require surgery followed by therapy, and the recovery window is exactly when adjusters push for a return to work. Employers sometimes recast the injury as an old sports problem.
- Port, Warehouse, and Dock Work: New Orleans has heavy logistics, shipping, and warehouse employment where repetitive lifting and equipment accidents produce spine and joint injuries. Wage disputes arise when pay includes overtime or shift differentials.
- Hospitality and Restaurant Workers: Tipped and variable-hour employees often see their average weekly wage miscalculated when the insurer ignores tips or averages in slow weeks.
- Burns and Catastrophic Injuries: Industrial sites, plants, and oil field work around South Louisiana produce injuries with long disability periods, skin grafts, and specialist treatment that keep workers off the job well past the first months.
- Fractures: Foot, ankle, hip, and other bone injuries can require specialists and complex surgical repair, with non-weight-bearing periods that make any work impossible.
- Truck and Vehicle Crashes on the Job: Drivers and field employees hurt in a wreck may be owed comp benefits and may also have a separate claim against the at-fault driver, and the two claims have to be coordinated.
- Aggravation of Pre-existing Conditions: A prior injury does not end a claim if work caused, worsened, or accelerated the condition, but insurers use it as the default reason to stop paying.
What to Do When Your Wage Checks Stop or Never Start
Report the injury to your employer in writing right away. Louisiana requires notice within 30 days of the injury, and a formal claim generally must be filed within one year of the accident. If compensation payments have already been made, the deadline can extend to three years from the last payment, but do not count on that exception. Mississippi has its own rules if your injury happened across the state line: notice within 30 days, and generally two years to file with the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission.
Ask your treating physician for written work restrictions at every visit, and make sure the note says whether you can work at all, not just that you are “being treated.” That document is the foundation of a TTD claim. Keep your own record of dates you were told to stay home, any light-duty offers you received, and every conversation with the adjuster. Save pay stubs from the year before the injury, including overtime, bonuses, per diem, and any second job, because the average weekly wage is the number that drives the entire benefit.
If the insurer denies a medical treatment your doctor ordered, a strict clock starts. Louisiana’s utilization review process requires you to file Form 1009 with the Office of Workers’ Compensation Administration within 15 calendar days of receiving the written denial, and the medical director then has 30 calendar days to decide. If you disagree with that decision, you have 45 days from the date it was issued, not from when you opened the envelope, to file Form 1008 under R.S. 23:1203.1. Missing either window can cost you the chance to challenge the denial. If a workers’ compensation judge rules against you after trial, a final judgment can be appealed to the court of appeal; an appeal that suspends the judgment must be filed within 30 days, and one that does not suspend it within 60.
The most common mistakes are signing recorded statements without understanding them, returning to work before your doctor clears you because the adjuster hinted benefits would end, treating only with a doctor the insurer picked and never asking about your right to choose, and waiting months to report a gradual injury. If your employer suggests you take sick leave or file on your health insurance instead, speak with a lawyer before you do. If you were hurt by someone other than your employer, such as a negligent driver, a third-party claim may exist alongside comp, and Louisiana’s two-year period for most injury lawsuits arising from recent accidents should be tracked separately from your comp deadlines.
Temporary Total Versus the Other Disability Categories
Louisiana sorts wage loss into categories, and the label on your benefit determines how long it lasts and how much you receive. Temporary total disability means you cannot work at all for now. Permanent total disability applies when the injury permanently prevents any gainful work. Permanent partial disability applies when you have lasting impairment but can still work in some capacity. Supplemental earnings benefits cover the gap when you return to lower-paying work. A worker’s claim often moves through several of these over time, and the transitions are where benefits are most often reduced or terminated without a good reason.
That is why a TTD claim should be built with the long view in mind. The medical records created during your temporary disability become the evidence for every later category and for any settlement. An attorney who understands how a note from your surgeon today will be read by an adjuster, a judge, or a vocational expert two years from now can keep that record accurate. Our attorneys build each case with the medical evidence, witness accounts, and work history needed to answer the arguments insurers make most often: that the accident did not happen at work, that a prior condition is to blame, that you are fit to return before your doctor says so, or that benefits can simply stop.
Questions About TTD Benefits in New Orleans
How much will I receive in temporary total disability benefits?
The benefit is two-thirds of your average weekly wage, subject to a statutory maximum that is fixed by the date of your accident and revised each year. If your pre-injury earnings were high, you will receive the cap. If they were moderate, the accuracy of the wage calculation determines your check.
How long can I receive TTD in Louisiana?
TTD continues while you remain unable to work because of the injury, as supported by medical evidence. It ends when you are released to work, return to your pre-injury earnings, or move to a different benefit category. Weeks of TTD also count toward the 520-week limit on supplemental earnings benefits.
When should my TTD payments begin?
Payments are generally due on a weekly basis once the employer or insurer has notice of the injury and disability. If they are late or never start, penalties and attorney fees can apply when the failure to pay was not reasonable, so it is worth documenting every delay.
Can my employer force me back to work before my doctor releases me?
No. If your treating physician has not cleared you, an employer cannot lawfully require you to work, and benefits should not be cut simply because you refused to return against medical advice. Disputes arise when the insurer relies on a different doctor’s opinion, and that conflict is something we address with the medical evidence.
What if the insurance company says I can do light duty?
Light duty only affects TTD if it is a real job offered within your written restrictions. A vague offer, work outside your limits, or a position that exists only on paper does not end your entitlement. Keep copies of what is offered and what your doctor says about it.
Do I have to see the insurance company’s doctor?
You generally have the right to choose a treating physician in the specialty you need, and the insurer can request an independent medical examination. An examiner chosen by the insurer is not your treating doctor, and that opinion can be challenged. Do not assume an adjuster’s referral is your only option.
My benefits were stopped without notice. What can I do?
Contact us immediately. A sudden stop is one of the most common tactics, and it can often be challenged before a workers’ compensation judge, especially if your doctor still has you off work. Gather the termination notice, the last payment, and your latest medical note.
Can I receive TTD and unemployment or Social Security at the same time?
Receiving unemployment benefits while claiming that you cannot work creates a conflict, and Social Security disability can interact with workers’ compensation through offsets. Because these programs affect each other, speak with an attorney before applying for any of them while a comp claim is open.
Will my health insurance pay for treatment while my comp claim is pending?
Sometimes, but it is risky. Health insurers often seek reimbursement if the injury turns out to be work-related, and using it can complicate your comp claim. Talk to us before routing treatment through your own insurance so that the choice does not hurt you later.
Is it worth hiring a lawyer if my TTD checks are arriving on time?
Often yes, especially for a serious injury. Payments arriving does not mean the wage rate is correct, that surgery will be authorized, or that benefits will not be terminated at a critical point in recovery. Consultations are free and we are paid only if we recover benefits or a settlement for you, so you lose nothing by asking.
What if I was fired after reporting my injury?
Louisiana and Mississippi both protect workers from retaliation for filing a comp claim. A firing may affect your wage benefits and could give rise to additional rights, so tell us during your consultation so we can review the circumstances.
Serving New Orleans Temporary Total Disability Clients Across South Louisiana and Beyond
We represent injured workers throughout New Orleans and Orleans Parish, from the French Quarter, the Central Business District, and the Warehouse District through Mid-City, Gentilly, Lakeview, and the Garden District. Clients also come to us from Uptown, Carrollton, the Marigny, Bywater, New Orleans East, Algiers, and the Lower Ninth Ward, many of them employed along the riverfront, in hospitals, in hotels and restaurants, and at construction sites across the region.
Our work extends well beyond the city. We serve workers in neighboring Jefferson Parish and the communities of Metairie, Kenner, Harahan, and Gretna, as well as St. Bernard, Plaquemines, St. Tammany, and Tangipahoa parishes. Across South Louisiana we represent clients in Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Houma, and the surrounding parishes, and in north Louisiana we serve workers in Shreveport and neighboring communities. In Mississippi, our attorneys handle claims from Jackson, Madison, the Gulf Coast, Hattiesburg, Southaven, the Delta, and north Mississippi, for construction workers, truck drivers, ironworkers, oil field workers, nurses, firefighters, and general laborers.
Speak With a New Orleans Temporary Total Disability Attorney
If your doctor has taken you off work and the benefits that should be replacing your paycheck are late, too low, or gone, a New Orleans temporary total disability attorney at Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe can review your wage records, your medical restrictions, and the insurer’s reasons and tell you what can be done. Our phones are answered 24 hours a day, consultations are free, and you pay no fee unless we recover benefits for you. Call us today to talk through your claim.
