By Randy Estes, September 13, 2026
Your doctor says you can go back to work – just not the way you used to. Maybe you’re on light duty with a lifting restriction. Maybe your old job is gone. Or maybe the only work you can find pays a fraction of what you made before you got hurt. Then a letter shows up saying the insurance company is switching your checks from “TTD” to “SEB.”
Most injured workers never hear the words “supplemental earnings benefits” until their checks change. But SEB is often the longest-running and most valuable wage benefit in a Louisiana comp case. Here’s what it is, how it’s figured, and how to tell whether you’re getting what you’re owed.
Louisiana comp pays different wage benefits depending on how your injury affects your ability to work. Temporary total disability (TTD) covers the time you can’t work at all. Supplemental earnings benefits cover the far more common situation: you can do some kind of work, but because of your injury, you can’t earn what you used to.
Under La. R.S. 23:1221(3), you qualify for SEB if your injury leaves you unable to earn at least 90% of the wages you were making when you got hurt. Put simply: if your injury has cut your earning power by more than 10%, SEB is meant to make up part of the difference.
The switch from TTD to SEB usually happens when your doctor releases you to some kind of work, even light duty – because Louisiana allows TTD only when you prove by clear and convincing evidence that you can’t do any work at all. The switch itself isn’t necessarily wrong. But it’s where a lot of mistakes in the amount of your checks begin.
SEB is figured month by month, and the math goes like this:
Here’s an example. Say you earned $1,200 a week as a welder before a back injury. That’s $5,200 a month. Your doctor limits you to light work, and the best job you can find pays $750 a week, or $3,250 a month. The gap is $1,950 a month, and your SEB is two-thirds of that – about $1,300 a month, on top of your new paycheck.
A few things follow from that formula. Because each month stands on its own, your SEB can go up or down as your earnings change – a month with fewer hours should mean a bigger SEB check. If you’re not working at all and the insurer hasn’t shown there’s a job you can do, your post-injury earnings are zero, and SEB is generally paid at the full rate – the same two-thirds of your old wage you got on TTD. And SEB is capped by the same weekly maximum as other comp benefits, locked in by your date of injury. For accidents on or after September 1, 2026, that cap is $903 a week.
Yes – and this is where a lot of SEB disputes start. The law lets your SEB be based not just on what you actually earn, but on what you’re “able to earn.” If you’re not working, or earning less than you could, the insurer can reduce your benefits by proving there’s a job you’re physically able to do that was either offered to you or available in your community or a reasonable geographic region (La. R.S. 23:1221(3)(c)).
But the burden is on the employer and its insurer to prove that – not on you to disprove it. In Banks v. Industrial Roofing & Sheet Metal Works, 696 So. 2d 551 (La. 1997), the Louisiana Supreme Court said the employer has to show three things: that a suitable job within your physical limits exists in your or your employer’s community or reasonable region; the wages that job would pay someone with your experience and training; and that an actual position was open around the time you were told about it. A generic list of job titles, a position that was already filled, or a job outside your doctor’s restrictions doesn’t cut it.
In practice, insurers often bring in a vocational rehabilitation counselor to look for jobs for you. Take those leads seriously – apply, show up for interviews, and keep a record of every application and every response. Turning down a legitimate job your doctor has approved can be used to cut your SEB. On the other hand, if you can prove by clear and convincing evidence that substantial pain alone keeps you from doing a job, the law treats you as unable to do it.
SEB can be paid for up to 520 weeks – about ten years. Only the weeks you’re actually paid SEB count against that limit; weeks you spent on TTD don’t. But SEB can end sooner in a few situations:
Report your earnings when the insurer asks. Louisiana law requires you to report your monthly earnings on the insurer’s form – the LWC-WC-1020, Employee’s Monthly Report of Earnings (La. R.S. 23:1221(3)(f)). Fill it out accurately, list every dollar you earn from any job or self-employment, and keep a copy. A false or incomplete earnings report can be treated as comp fraud under La. R.S. 23:1208 – which can put your benefits at risk.
Keep your pay stubs and every work-status slip from your doctor. And check the starting point: SEB is built on your pre-injury average weekly wage, so if that number left out your overtime or other earnings, every SEB check is short.
If your SEB has been cut or stopped, you don’t have to accept the insurer’s decision. You can file a disputed claim with Louisiana’s Office of Workers’ Compensation, and an insurer that fails to pay what it owes, or stops paying without a valid reason, can be ordered to pay penalties and attorney fees under La. R.S. 23:1201.
SEB is often a big piece of what a comp claim is worth, so it’s worth understanding yours before you sign anything. If you’ve been moved from TTD to SEB, your checks were cut based on a job you can’t really do, or you’re just not sure the amount is right, let us take a look. Call Estes Davis Law at (225) 336-3394 for a free, confidential consultation. Se habla español.
This article is general information about Louisiana law and is not legal advice. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome; every case depends on its own facts. For advice about your situation, please consult an attorney.
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