ACL tear - file EDD SDI claim now or wait for surgeon appointment? How does backdating work?

File your claim NOW! Don't wait for the surgeon appointment. Your disability begins the day you stopped working due to your injury, regardless of when surgery happens. Your primary doctor can certify your initial claim. The surgeon can provide updated medical certifications later that extend your claim period after surgery. You can backdate a claim, but only up to 49 days, and you lose benefits for days beyond that window. So if you wait too long, you're literally leaving money on the table. I tore my ACL in 2023 and the process works like this: 1. File claim with initial doctor's certification 2. Get approved for initial recovery period 3. Surgeon later submits updated medical certification for post-surgery recovery 4. Your claim gets extended based on surgical recovery timeline

my friend waited 2 get his SDI claim going after acl surgery nd it was a NIGHTMARE!!! file now w/ your regular doc then just update later... surgeon will probly give u 3-6 months off work depends how physical ur job is. warehouse work means longer recovery fs

As someone who works in healthcare admin, I completely agree with filing your claim immediately. Here's why: - Your disability period officially starts the first day you were unable to work (in your case, January 3rd it sounds like) - Your primary care physician's certification is completely valid for starting the claim - The EDD form (DE 2501) has a section for "estimated return to work date" - your doctor can put a date that gets you through to when you'll see the surgeon - Once you meet with the surgeon and have surgery scheduled, your surgeon will submit a new certification with updated recovery timeline - This creates a seamless extension of your claim without interruption in benefits I've seen patients lose weeks of benefits because they waited for specialist appointments before filing. Don't make that mistake!

When I tore my ACL in 2024, EDD approved me for 8 weeks initially, then after surgery they extended it to 5 months total based on my surgeon's certification. But I think every claim is different depending on your job requirements and recovery progress. BTW - I tried calling EDD about extending my claim after surgery and spent HOURS on hold. Eventually I found Claimyr (claimyr.com) which got me connected to an EDD rep in under 25 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/1X-mEsLtbmQ?si=1hcSq3KFtCr4oAmd It saved me so much frustration when I needed to make sure my extension was processed correctly. Might be worth checking out if you run into phone issues with EDD.

DONT LISTEN TO ANYONE SAYING WAIT!!!! The system is DESIGNED to make you lose money!!!! I waited after my back injury because the first doctor said "wait until you see the specialist" and I LOST 3 WEEKS OF PAYMENTS I could never get back!!!! File NOW and here's the important part - on your DE 2501 form, make sure your doctor fills out the "date you became unable to work" with the ACTUAL FIRST DAY you missed work, not today's date!!!! This is how they try to screw you!!!!!

i tore my acl skiing last year and my surgeon gave me 4 months off for my construction job. but my buddy who works a desk job only got 6 weeks after the same surgery. depends on ur job i think

Thanks everyone for the helpful advice! I went ahead and filed my claim yesterday with my primary doctor's certification. She estimated 8 weeks for the initial certification but said we'll update it after surgery. I didn't realize how important filing quickly was - that 49-day backdate limit really could have cost me if I'd waited until after surgery and recovery. One more question - does anyone know how closely EDD reviews the paperwork? I'm nervous because my doctor wrote that I was injured on January 2nd but I worked half a day that day before going to urgent care. My first full day missed was January 3rd.

I had a completely diffrent experience with my shoulder surgery last year. My regular doctor wouldn't sign the SDI forms at all and said only the surgeon could do it. Maybe different doctors have different policies? Anyone else run into that problem?

Just to add one more important thing - make sure you certify properly every two weeks once your claim is active! The EDD won't automatically send your payments if you don't complete the bi-weekly certification. I missed one certification period and my payments got delayed by almost 3 weeks while they sorted it out.

Just wanted to share my recent experience since it might help! I filed an SDI claim for a knee injury in December and was really glad I didn't wait. My primary doctor was able to certify me for 6 weeks initially, which got my benefits started right away. When I eventually had surgery, my orthopedic surgeon just submitted an updated certification that extended my claim seamlessly. One tip that really helped me - when you meet with your surgeon on February 1st, bring a copy of your current SDI claim number and ask them specifically about timeline for return to work for your type of job. Warehouse work is definitely going to require longer recovery than a desk job. My surgeon was really helpful in being realistic about the timeline once she understood what my daily work tasks involved. Also, don't stress too much about the paperwork details. EDD processed my claim pretty smoothly as long as all the required sections were filled out. The key thing is just getting it filed ASAP like everyone else said. Good luck with your recovery!