CT Workers’ Comp Settlement Chart: Weeks, Rates, and Caps

Connecticut does not publish a workers’ comp settlement chart in CT that assigns a flat dollar figure to each injury. What exists instead is a statutory schedule of weeks for each body part, multiplied by the injured worker’s weekly benefit rate, with case-specific factors adjusting the final number. Once you know the weeks for your body part, your impairment rating, and your weekly rate, you can calculate the permanent partial disability (PPD) award that forms the core of most Connecticut settlements.

How the Formula Works

Connecticut General Statutes § 31-308(b) sets the method.¹ After a treating physician determines you have reached maximum medical improvement and assigns a percentage-of-disability rating to the injured body part, the calculation runs in three steps:

Find the scheduled weeks for that body part.
Multiply those weeks by your impairment percentage. A 20 percent rating on the dominant arm equals 20 percent of 208 weeks, or 41.6 weeks.
Multiply the resulting weeks by your weekly PPD rate, which is 75 percent of your after-tax average weekly wage.

A worker with a $200 weekly PPD rate and a 20 percent dominant-arm rating is owed 41.6 × $200, or $8,320.² A worker at the current $1,220 statutory maximum with the same rating would be owed roughly $50,750. The formula is the same for every scheduled body part; only the number of weeks changes.

Scheduled Weeks by Body Part

The numbers below are the weeks payable for a 100 percent loss of use. A partial rating gets a proportional share. Joint injuries that are not amputations (rotator cuff, knee, wrist) are rated as a percentage of the body part the joint belongs to: a shoulder is rated against the arm, a knee against the leg. Connecticut does not use a “whole person” rating.³

Limbs, Hands, and Feet

Dominant arm (at or above elbow): 208 weeks
Other arm: 194 weeks
Dominant hand (at or above wrist): 168 weeks
Other hand: 155 weeks
Leg (at or above knee): 155 weeks
Foot (at or above ankle): 125 weeks
Thumb, dominant: 63 weeks; other thumb: 54 weeks
First finger: 36 weeks; second: 29; third: 21; fourth: 17
Great toe: 28 weeks; other toes: 9 weeks each

Spine, Organs, and Senses

Back: up to 374 weeks, proportional to incapacity
Cervical spine (neck): 208 weeks (raised from 117 effective July 1, 2025)⁴
Heart, brain, or carotid artery: 520 weeks
Pancreas: 416 weeks
Liver: 347 weeks
Intestinal tract: 347 weeks (added in 2025)
Stomach: 260 weeks
Bladder: 233 weeks
Esophagus: 180 weeks (added in 2025)
Speech: 163 weeks
Eye: 157 weeks
Lung or kidney: 117 weeks each
Hearing, both ears: 104 weeks; one ear: 35 weeks
Rib cage (bilateral): 69 weeks
Ovary, testis, mammary, nose, jaw, or coccyx: 35 weeks each
Smell or taste: 17 weeks each
Spleen or gall bladder: 13 weeks each
Tooth: 1 week

The commissioner sets the percentage rating for a joint or spine injury based on the medical evidence.³

Your Weekly Benefit Rate and the 2025–2026 Caps

The weekly rate is built from your pre-injury earnings. Connecticut averages your gross wages over the 52 weeks before the injury, subtracts federal and state taxes plus FICA and Medicare using standard commission tax tables, and pays 75 percent of the net.⁵ Overtime, bonuses, tips, and even wages from a second job can be included if they were regular.⁶

For injuries occurring between October 1, 2025, and September 30, 2026, the statewide average weekly wage is $1,715.03. The maximum weekly rate is $1,716 for temporary total and permanent total disability, and $1,220 for temporary partial and permanent partial disability. The minimum for total disability is $343.20 (or 75 percent of wages, whichever is less); the PPD minimum is $50.⁷ The caps update each October.

Benefits Paid Before the PPD Award

Before you reach maximum medical improvement, temporary total disability (TTD) pays 75 percent of your after-tax wages while you cannot work at all, subject to the same statewide cap.⁵ A three-day waiting period applies, waived if the disability lasts more than seven days. TTD ends when you return to full wages or reach maximum medical improvement.⁶

If you are released to light duty but cannot find suitable work, temporary partial disability (TPD) pays 75 percent of the net difference between your pre-injury wages and whatever you can currently earn.⁸ Under 2025 changes, post-MMI TPD benefits are now capped at 60 weeks and require enrollment in a vocational rehabilitation program.⁴

What Moves a Settlement Up or Down

The scheduled calculation is the starting point. Several factors push the final settlement figure above or below the raw math:

A higher average weekly wage amplifies every scheduled week.
Ratings from different doctors can vary. Insurers often request an independent medical exam, and a commissioner can order one to break a tie.³
Surgical cases, long courses of physical therapy, and anticipated future procedures tend to settle for more, both because the rating is higher and because projected future care has to be funded.⁹
If you cannot return to your prior job and face a permanent earnings gap, supplemental “308a” wage-differential benefits add leverage in negotiations.⁸
Keeping future medical benefits open generally lowers the lump sum; closing out medical rights entirely requires a larger payment to cover projected care.¹⁰
If you are on Medicare or expect to enroll within 30 months, part of the settlement may need to be set aside for future injury-related care. CMS reviews proposals when settlements exceed $25,000 for current beneficiaries and $250,000 for those enrolling within 30 months.¹¹

Typical Settlement Ranges in Connecticut

Averages across many claims should be read with caution because facts drive outcomes. One review of Connecticut settlements over an eight-year window found a mean payout of about $22,500, with a typical range of $2,000 to $40,000 and catastrophic or fatal cases reaching into the millions.¹² As a rough framework, minor injuries without surgery often settle for a few thousand dollars, surgical injuries land in the mid five figures, major spine, shoulder, or knee surgery with a permanency rating reaches the high five figures to low six figures, and permanent work restrictions or total disability exposure can run well into six figures.¹³

Voluntary Agreement or Stipulation

Two different documents are both commonly called “settlements,” and the distinction matters for your valuation.

A voluntary agreement is used when the insurer accepts the claim and agrees to pay benefits. It does not close the case. You continue receiving weekly benefits and medical treatment, and you can petition for more if your condition worsens. The insurer prepares the form for your signature and submits it to the Workers’ Compensation Commission for approval without a hearing.¹⁴

A stipulation is a full and final settlement, closing the case for a lump sum or scheduled installments. You generally cannot reopen it if your condition deteriorates. A commissioner holds an approval hearing, questions you about the terms, and approves the agreement only if it serves your interest. You must sign an acknowledgment titled “Stipulation and What It Means” before the hearing. A stipulation can either close future medical rights or keep them open; vocational rehabilitation services can never be waived.¹⁵

Attorney Fees, Taxes, and When You Get Paid

Claimant attorney fees in Connecticut workers’ comp are contingency-based and capped at 25 percent of the recovery as of January 1, 2024, up from 20 percent. An administrative law judge must approve the fee, and requests above the cap are not permitted.¹⁶

Workers’ compensation benefits and lump-sum settlements are generally exempt from Connecticut state and federal income tax. Weekly wage replacement, PPD awards, medical payments, and death benefits all fall outside gross income. The main exception involves Social Security Disability Insurance: federal law caps combined monthly benefits at 80 percent of pre-disability earnings, and if the total exceeds that, Social Security reduces its payment and the offset can become taxable. For lump sums, the Social Security Administration prorates the amount over time, and attorneys can structure the agreement to minimize the offset.¹⁷

Once an agreement is approved, payment must arrive within 20 days. If the insurer misses that deadline, you are entitled to a 20 percent penalty on each late payment.¹⁴

What the 2025 Changes Did to the Chart

Public Act 25-12, effective July 1, 2025, reshaped parts of the schedule and the rules around post-MMI benefits. The cervical spine jumped from 117 to 208 weeks. The esophagus (180 weeks) and intestinal tract (347 weeks) were added as scheduled body parts. Death benefits of up to 312 weeks were extended to parents of a deceased worker who had no dependents.⁴

The same law capped post-MMI temporary partial benefits at 60 weeks, required vocational rehabilitation enrollment to receive them, and directed judges to award PPD benefits once maximum medical improvement is reached. These changes apply to all claims filed on or after July 1, 1993, and the question of how far back the amendments reach has not yet been resolved by the courts.⁴ If your injury predates 2025, check the schedule in effect on your date of injury before running the numbers.

1
Justia. Connecticut General Statutes § 31-308
2
Connecticut Injury Lawyers. Permanent Partial Disability
3
Halloransage. Connecticut Workers’ Compensation Compendium
4
National Workers’ Compensation Defense Network. Spring 2025 Connecticut Workers’ Compensation Law Update
5
Nolo. Workers’ Compensation Benefits in Connecticut
6
Law Offices of James F. Aspell. How Does Workers’ Comp Calculate My Weekly Benefit in Connecticut
7
Connecticut Workers’ Compensation Commission. Benefit Rate Table 2025–2026
8
Connecticut Workers’ Compensation Commission. Workers’ Compensation Information Packet
9
Law Offices of James F. Aspell. What Is My Connecticut Workers’ Comp Claim Worth
10
Law Offices of James F. Aspell. Largest Workers’ Compensation Settlement in Connecticut
11
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Workers’ Comp Set-Aside Arrangements
12
Jacobs & Jacobs. Average Cost of a Workers’ Compensation Claim in Connecticut
13
Law Offices of James F. Aspell. Unlocking the Mysteries of the Payout Workers’ Comp Settlement Chart
14
Nolo. Settling Your Workers’ Compensation Case in Connecticut
15
Connecticut Injury Lawyers. Final Stipulation
16
Connecticut Workers’ Compensation Commission. Memorandum No. 2023-09
17
Law Offices of James F. Aspell. Is a Workers’ Compensation Settlement Taxable