Georgia Workers’ Comp Settlement Chart: PPD Payouts and Caps

The Georgia workers’ comp settlement chart assigns a fixed number of benefit weeks to each injured body part, and your settlement value is that week count multiplied by two-thirds of your average weekly wage and by the permanent impairment percentage your doctor assigns. The chart tops out at 225 weeks for an arm or leg and 300 weeks for injuries to the body as a whole. Everything else in a Georgia permanent partial disability settlement, from the weekly cap to the premium an insurer pays to close your file forever, builds on that formula.

The Scheduled Member Chart

O.C.G.A. § 34-9-263 sets the maximum number of weeks of permanent partial disability benefits payable for each body part. These are ceilings for a 100% loss. A partial impairment rating from your doctor reduces the weeks proportionally.¹

Arm: 225 weeks
Leg: 225 weeks
Hand: 160 weeks
Foot: 135 weeks
Thumb: 60 weeks
Index finger: 40 weeks
Middle finger: 35 weeks
Ring finger: 30 weeks
Little finger: 25 weeks
Great toe: 30 weeks
Any other toe: 20 weeks
Loss of vision in one eye: 150 weeks
Loss of hearing in one ear, traumatic: 75 weeks
Loss of hearing in both ears, traumatic: 150 weeks
Body as a whole: 300 weeks

The body-as-a-whole category covers injuries that don’t match a specific limb on the schedule. Back injuries, neck injuries, head trauma, and damage to internal organs fall here, and because the ceiling is 300 weeks, these claims tend to produce the largest PPD values.

One statutory shortcut matters when more than one major member is lost. If a worker loses both arms, both hands, both legs, both feet, or any combination of two or more of those major members, the statute creates a rebuttable presumption of permanent total disability. The claim moves out of the PPD schedule entirely and into the total disability framework under O.C.G.A. § 34-9-261, which is more valuable.¹

How To Calculate Your PPD Settlement

Three numbers drive the math: your average weekly wage, the statutory two-thirds rate derived from it, and your impairment rating. Get any one of them wrong and the whole figure is off.

Average Weekly Wage

Your average weekly wage is normally your total gross earnings over the 13 weeks before the injury, divided by 13. It includes overtime, bonuses, and the value of employer-provided benefits like housing or meals. If you hadn’t been with the employer for 13 full weeks, the Board can use the wages of a comparable employee doing similar work.²

The Weekly Compensation Rate

Multiply the average weekly wage by two-thirds. That is your weekly compensation rate, subject to the statutory cap below.¹

The Impairment Rating

Your treating physician assigns a permanent impairment percentage once you reach maximum medical improvement. Georgia requires doctors to use the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, Fifth Edition, under § 34-9-263(d). The statute still points to the Fifth Edition and has not been updated to a newer one.¹

A Worked Example

Say you earn $900 per week and injure your hand. Your weekly rate is $600 (two-thirds of $900). The doctor assigns a 15% impairment. Fifteen percent of the 160-week hand allowance is 24 weeks. Multiply 24 weeks by $600, and the PPD value is $14,400. That number is the statutory floor the insurer owes, and it is the baseline for any settlement conversation.

PPD benefits aren’t payable while you’re still drawing temporary total or temporary partial disability. The PPD schedule starts once those weekly checks stop.¹

The Weekly Benefit Cap

However much you earn, Georgia caps the weekly rate used in the formula. For injuries occurring between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2026, the maximum weekly benefit is $800. The applicable cap is set by your date of injury, not your settlement date, so an older claim uses the cap in force when you were hurt.¹

The cap bites hardest at higher wages. A worker with a $1,500 average weekly wage would otherwise have a $1,000 weekly rate, but the law trims it to $800. Apply that to the same 15% hand injury (24 weeks), and the PPD value drops from $24,000 to $19,200. The week count and the impairment percentage don’t change; the per-week dollars do.

What Pushes a Settlement Above the Chart

The chart calculation is the floor, not the ceiling. The real negotiation turns on which type of settlement you sign and what future exposure the insurer is trying to buy out.

Stipulated Settlement Versus Clincher

A stipulated settlement resolves specific disputed issues and leaves other parts of the claim open, often including future medical treatment. It fits when your condition hasn’t fully stabilized or when ongoing care is clearly necessary. The agreement has to identify which issues are in dispute to earn Board approval.

A full and final settlement, often called a clincher, closes everything. You take a lump sum and give up future income benefits, future medical care, and any right to reopen the file for a worsening condition. Insurers prefer clinchers because they eliminate future exposure, and they will usually pay more than the strict PPD number to get one. How much more depends on projected future medical costs, your age, your ability to return to work, and the strength of the medical evidence.

Both forms require approval from the State Board of Workers’ Compensation, which reviews the terms for fairness and confirms the worker understands what rights are being waived.³

Medicare Set-Aside Allocations

If you’re already on Medicare or expect to enroll within 30 months, a clincher that closes future medical requires setting aside money to cover injury-related treatment Medicare would otherwise pay. CMS reviews a Workers’ Compensation Medicare Set-Aside proposal when the claimant is on Medicare and the total settlement exceeds $25,000, or when enrollment is reasonably expected within 30 months and the settlement exceeds $250,000.⁴

Below those thresholds, the obligation to protect Medicare’s interests still exists. The set-aside comes out of your settlement, so it reduces what you can actually spend. Medicare may also have conditional payments to recover for treatment it already covered while the claim was pending, and that money is repaid from the settlement as well.⁵

Social Security Disability Offset

If you collect SSDI at the same time, 42 U.S.C. § 424a caps the combined total of workers’ comp and SSDI at 80% of your average current earnings before the disability. Social Security prorates a lump-sum settlement back into a weekly equivalent to apply the offset.⁶

Medical and legal expenses tied to the workers’ comp claim can be excluded from the offset calculation, which is a reason to itemize them in the settlement agreement. Careful proration language in the document can preserve thousands of dollars of SSDI over the life of the claim.

Tax Treatment

Workers’ compensation benefits, including lump-sum settlements, are excluded from federal gross income under IRC § 104(a)(1). You don’t get a 1099 and don’t report the payments on your federal return. Georgia follows the same treatment.⁷

Attorney Fees

Georgia caps attorney fees at 25% of the claimant’s weekly benefits or settlement, and anything above $100 requires Board approval. On a PPD settlement, the 25% is calculated on income benefits reduced to present value, so it isn’t simply a quarter of the gross figure.⁸

Deadlines That Can End the Claim

None of the chart math matters if the filing window closes first. You have one year from the injury to file a claim with the State Board on Form WC-14. That window extends if the employer has been voluntarily providing benefits: one year from the last employer-furnished medical treatment, or two years from the last weekly benefit payment, whichever is later. Death claims must be filed within one year of death.⁹

If your condition worsens after a Board decision, O.C.G.A. § 34-9-104 lets you request a modification. The general window is two years from the last income benefit payment under the temporary total or temporary partial disability statutes. For a claim seeking only PPD benefits under § 34-9-263, it extends to four years from the last payment.¹⁰

One trap deserves attention before you sign anything. A change-of-condition claim is only available when the prior decision wasn’t based on a settlement. Sign a full and final clincher, and that door is closed for good, no matter how much worse your injury gets.¹⁰

1
Justia. Georgia Code 34-9-263 – Compensation for Permanent Partial Disability
2
Justia. Georgia Code 34-9-260 – Basis and Method for Computing Compensation Generally
3
State Board of Workers’ Compensation. About the State Board of Workers’ Compensation
4
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Workers’ Compensation Medicare Set Aside Arrangements
5
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Medicare Secondary Payer Liability Insurance, No-Fault Insurance and Workers’ Compensation Recovery Process
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 424a – Reduction on Account of Workers’ Compensation
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 104 – Compensation for Injuries or Sickness
8
Justia. Georgia Code 34-9-108 – Approval of Attorney’s Fees
9
Justia. Georgia Code 34-9-82 – Limitation Period and Procedure for Filing Claims
10
Justia. Georgia Code 34-9-104 – Modification of Award or Order on Change in Condition