Louisiana Workers’ Comp Settlement Chart: Weeks, Caps, and Wages

The Louisiana workers’ comp settlement chart is the schedule in La. R.S. 23:1221(4) that assigns a fixed number of compensation weeks to each body part. To estimate what a permanent injury is worth, multiply the weeks for that body part by two-thirds of your average weekly wage, then multiply by the impairment rating your doctor assigns. An arm carries 200 weeks; a leg, 175; a hand, 150. That product is the starting value a settlement negotiation moves around.1Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Revised Statutes 23:1221 – Temporary Total Disability; Permanent Total Disability; Supplemental Earnings Benefits; Permanent Partial Disability; Schedule of Payments

The Schedule of Weeks by Body Part

Each entry below is the maximum weeks of benefits payable for total loss or total loss of use of that body part. Partial loss pays the same weeks scaled by the physician’s impairment rating.

  • Arm: 200 weeks
  • Leg: 175 weeks
  • Hand: 150 weeks
  • Foot: 125 weeks
  • Eye: 100 weeks
  • Thumb: 50 weeks
  • Index finger: 30 weeks
  • Other finger or big toe: 20 weeks
  • Any other toe: 10 weeks

A complete amputation or total loss of function is treated as 100%. Anything less gets rated as a percentage by the treating physician, and that percentage is what plugs into the formula.1Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Revised Statutes 23:1221 – Temporary Total Disability; Permanent Total Disability; Supplemental Earnings Benefits; Permanent Partial Disability; Schedule of Payments

Running the Numbers

Three figures drive the permanent partial disability (PPD) calculation: scheduled weeks, 66⅔% of your average weekly wage (AWW), and the impairment rating.

Here is how it works. Suppose your AWW is $750 and a doctor assigns a 20% impairment to your hand. The hand is 150 scheduled weeks. Your weekly compensation rate is $750 × 0.6667 = $500. The PPD value is 150 × $500 × 0.20 = $15,000. That $15,000 is the baseline value of the permanent damage before any settlement discount.

If the body part is completely lost, the rating drops out because it is effectively 100%. An arm amputation at a $500 compensation rate is 200 × $500 = $100,000. Multiple injured body parts each get their own separate calculation and the results stack.

Insurers rarely pay the full product in a lump sum. They apply a present-value discount for paying today what they would otherwise pay out over years. Louisiana law caps that discount at 8% per year.2Louisiana Workforce Commission. Requirements For Workers’ Compensation Settlements Measure any offer against the undiscounted total. If the gap is wider than the time-value discount justifies, the offer is low.

The Weekly Benefit Cap

The 66⅔% rate does not run unchecked. Louisiana sets a maximum and minimum weekly benefit that adjusts each September. For injuries occurring between September 1, 2025 and August 31, 2026, the maximum weekly compensation is $877.00 and the minimum is $234.00.3Louisiana Workforce Commission. Office of Workers’ Compensation Administration Average Wage and Minimum/Maximum Rates If your actual wages are below the minimum, you receive your full wages instead.

The cap matters more than many workers realize. A $1,800-per-week earner calculates to a $1,200 weekly benefit at 66⅔%, but the actual payment is capped at $877. That cap compresses every scheduled calculation. When you run the math, use the capped rate, not the uncapped percentage.

Getting Your Average Weekly Wage Right

Every number in the formula flows from your AWW, which is defined in La. R.S. 23:1021(13). The right calculation depends on how you were paid.4Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Revised Statutes 23:1021 – Terms Defined

  • Full-time hourly workers at 40 or more hours: hourly rate times the average actual hours worked in the four full weeks before the accident, or 40 hours, whichever is greater.
  • Hourly workers offered 40 or more hours who regularly choose less: average of total weekly earnings over the four full weeks before the accident.
  • Part-time hourly workers: hourly rate times average actual hours worked in the four full weeks before the injury.

The reference period is the four complete payroll weeks immediately before the accident. Pull those pay stubs. Overtime, shift differentials, and regular bonuses earned during the window typically count.

If Your Injury Is Not on the Chart

Back injuries, shoulder damage, and chronic pain conditions have no assigned week count. The chart does not apply. These injuries fall under Supplemental Earnings Benefits (SEB) when you can return to some work but cannot earn at least 90% of your pre-injury wages.1Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Revised Statutes 23:1221 – Temporary Total Disability; Permanent Total Disability; Supplemental Earnings Benefits; Permanent Partial Disability; Schedule of Payments

SEB pays 66⅔% of the difference between your pre-injury average monthly wages and what you can earn now. Convert weekly wages to monthly by multiplying AWW by 52 and dividing by 12. If you earned $3,200 per month before and can now earn $1,800, the monthly benefit is 66⅔% of $1,400, or about $933.

SEB can last up to 520 weeks, roughly ten years, with a guaranteed minimum of 104 weeks. It ends earlier if two years pass without 13 consecutive weeks of benefits being payable, if you retire, or if your earning capacity recovers.1Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Revised Statutes 23:1221 – Temporary Total Disability; Permanent Total Disability; Supplemental Earnings Benefits; Permanent Partial Disability; Schedule of Payments

Settling an SEB claim is harder than settling a scheduled claim. The insurer estimates how many of the 520 weeks you will actually collect, factoring in your age, education, restrictions, and local job market. Carriers often retain vocational experts to argue that suitable jobs exist and your earning capacity is higher than you claim. That argument directly shrinks the wage gap the formula is built on, which shrinks the settlement. Your own vocational evidence is the counterweight.

What Shrinks the Headline Number

The product of weeks × rate × rating is a ceiling, not a check amount. Several things come off the top.

Lump-sum discount. Insurers apply the present-value discount described above, capped at 8% per year.2Louisiana Workforce Commission. Requirements For Workers’ Compensation Settlements

Attorney fees. Louisiana caps workers’ compensation attorney fees at 20% of the amount recovered, and the fee must be approved by the workers’ compensation judge before it is paid from the proceeds. That ceiling is a hard cap, not a starting point.5Justia. Louisiana Revised Statutes 23:1141 – Attorney Fees; Privilege A $50,000 settlement nets $40,000 after a full 20% fee.

Future medical. A Louisiana settlement is a full release. Once approved, you forfeit future weekly benefits and future medical coverage tied to the claim, and you cannot reopen it if your condition worsens.6Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Revised Statutes 23:1271 – Right of Parties to Settle or Compromise If a $30,000 fusion is likely in your future, the number has to cover it. Reach maximum medical improvement and get a clear picture of future care before signing.

Medicare set-aside. If you are already a Medicare beneficiary and the settlement exceeds $25,000, or if Medicare enrollment is expected within 30 months and the settlement exceeds $250,000, CMS reviews a proposed Workers’ Compensation Medicare Set-Aside carved out of the settlement.7Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Workers’ Compensation Medicare Set Aside Arrangements That money has to be spent on injury-related care before Medicare pays. For workers near 65 or on SSDI, it can take a real bite.

SSDI offset. Workers’ comp and SSDI together cannot exceed 80% of your average current earnings before the disability. Social Security spreads a lump-sum settlement over the period it is intended to cover and reduces your monthly SSDI check by the excess until you reach full retirement age or workers’ comp stops.8Social Security Administration. How Workers’ Compensation and Other Disability Payments May Affect Your Benefits You have to report the settlement. How it is structured on paper affects how much offset you take.

Judge Approval and the LWC-WC-1011

No settlement is final until a workers’ compensation judge approves it, and neither side can be forced into one.6Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Revised Statutes 23:1271 – Right of Parties to Settle or Compromise The parties file a joint petition on Form LWC-WC-1011 with your AWW, compensation rate, benefits already paid, the settlement amount, and a statement that the settlement provides substantial justice.2Louisiana Workforce Commission. Requirements For Workers’ Compensation Settlements

With an attorney, the judge approves the settlement on affidavits from you and your lawyer confirming your rights and the consequences were explained. Without an attorney, the judge conducts a more detailed review of whether you understand the terms and whether the settlement is substantially just, and the court can appoint an attorney to help evaluate the deal.9Justia. Louisiana Revised Statutes 23:1272 – Approval of Lump Sum or Compromise Settlements by the Workers’ Compensation Judge A $50 filing fee applies if the case does not already have a docket number; cases already on the docket pay nothing.2Louisiana Workforce Commission. Requirements For Workers’ Compensation Settlements Once signed, the order is a binding judgment that can be set aside only for fraud or misrepresentation.