Missouri Workers’ Compensation Settlement: Amounts and Types

A Missouri workers’ compensation settlement pays you a lump sum for the permanent effects of a workplace injury, calculated by multiplying the statutory weeks assigned to your injured body part by your disability rating and your weekly compensation rate. The agreement is not enforceable until an administrative law judge approves it, and the type of settlement you sign decides whether your medical benefits close forever or stay open for future treatment.¹

When You Can Settle

You cannot settle until your treating physician says your condition has stabilized. That milestone is called Maximum Medical Improvement, or MMI. It doesn’t mean you’re fully healed. It means more treatment isn’t expected to produce meaningful physical improvement. At MMI the doctor assigns a permanent partial disability rating, expressed as a percentage of impairment to a specific body part or to the body as a whole.²

That percentage drives everything that follows. Without a rating, neither side can put a dollar figure on the claim. Any temporary total disability checks you’re still receiving must end before a final settlement, because permanent loss hasn’t been fixed yet. The rating comes from a formal medical report, and many workers get a second opinion from an independent medical examiner if they believe the initial number is too low. Pushing back on an undervalued rating before settlement talks is far easier than trying to revisit it after signing.

How the Dollar Amount Is Calculated

Missouri uses a statutory schedule that assigns a set number of weeks of compensation to each body part. Body as a whole tops the schedule at 400 weeks.³ Loss of an arm at the shoulder is 232 weeks. Other body parts carry their own week values under RSMo Section 287.190. If you’ve been seriously and permanently disfigured about the head, neck, hands, or arms, the division may add up to 40 additional weeks on top of the scheduled amount.⁴

Your Weekly Rate

The schedule gives the weeks. Your pre-injury wages set the dollar value of each week. Average weekly wage is your gross earnings during the thirteen calendar weeks immediately before the injury, divided by thirteen.⁵ Worked fewer than thirteen weeks for the employer? The calculation uses only the weeks you actually worked. That average is then multiplied by two-thirds to produce your weekly compensation rate.³

Missouri caps that weekly rate, and the cap changes annually. For injuries between July 1, 2025, and June 30, 2026, the maximum weekly rate for permanent partial disability is $670.92, and the temporary total disability cap during the same period is $1,280.84.⁶ The permanent partial disability rate is the one that drives settlement math.

The Formula

Multiply the scheduled weeks for your body part by your disability rating percentage, then multiply that by your weekly rate. A 10% rating to the body as a whole works out to 40 weeks (400 × 10%). At a $500 weekly rate, that settlement value is $20,000. Injuries to more than one body part are calculated separately and added together. The formula gives both sides a concrete starting point, though the negotiated number can move based on disputed medical opinions, the strength of the evidence, and whether future medical costs are being folded in.

Choosing Between a Compromise Settlement and an Award by Consent

Missouri recognizes two ways to finalize a case, and the choice is one of the most consequential decisions an injured worker makes.

Stipulation for Compromise Settlement

The more common option is a Stipulation for Compromise Settlement, which closes the case entirely. You accept a lump sum and give up the right to any future benefits tied to that injury, including medical care.⁷ Insurers strongly prefer this because it removes all future liability. For workers, it makes the most sense when treatment is finished and there’s no realistic chance of needing surgery or ongoing care later. The tradeoff is stark: if your condition worsens five years from now, you can’t go back for more money or treatment.

Award by Consent

The alternative is an Award by Consent, sometimes called an Award on Stipulated Facts. It resolves the disability portion of the claim while potentially keeping specific future medical benefits open. If you need ongoing prescriptions, periodic follow-up appointments, or hardware replacements in a joint, this option preserves those rights. Insurers may offer a lower lump sum when they remain on the hook for medical costs. Workers with hardware implants, chronic conditions, or injuries that commonly deteriorate over time often benefit from keeping medical open.

The Second Injury Fund

Missouri maintains a Second Injury Fund that pays additional compensation when a current workplace injury combines with a pre-existing disability to produce a greater overall impairment.⁸

For injuries on or after January 1, 2014, eligibility is narrow. The pre-existing disability must equal at least 50 weeks of permanent partial disability and must result from active military duty, a prior compensable workers’ comp injury, or a condition that directly and significantly aggravated the subsequent work injury. A specific provision covers opposite-extremity injuries, such as losing sight in one eye after already losing the other. Under these post-2014 rules, Fund claims are limited to permanent total disability situations. Older injuries (before January 1, 2014) fall under a more generous rule that allowed the Fund to pay the difference between the combined disability and the sum of the individual disabilities, provided the pre-existing condition hindered employment and met minimum thresholds.⁸

What Comes Out of Your Check

Attorney Fees

Workers’ comp attorneys in Missouri work on contingency, so you pay nothing upfront and the fee comes out of your settlement. Missouri law requires fees to be “fair and reasonable” and subjects them to regulation by the Division of Workers’ Compensation. In practice, fees for contested claims typically run up to 25% of the settlement, while uncontested cases fall in the 15% to 20% range. The percentage is negotiated with your attorney, and the administrative law judge must approve the fee as part of the settlement approval. Fees are calculated against the gross recovery, not the net after liens. On a $30,000 settlement with a 25% fee, you’d receive $22,500 before any other adjustments.

Social Security Disability Offset

If you receive both Social Security Disability Insurance and workers’ compensation, the combined amount cannot exceed 80% of your average current earnings before you became disabled. When the two together exceed that threshold, Social Security reduces your disability check to bring the total down. The Social Security Administration calculates your monthly workers’ comp amount by multiplying your weekly benefit by 4.3333. Structuring a settlement to minimize this offset is one of the more technical aspects of negotiation, and getting it wrong can cost you thousands in reduced SSDI over time.

Medicare Set-Aside

If you’re a current Medicare beneficiary settling for more than $25,000, or you reasonably expect to enroll in Medicare within 30 months and the settlement exceeds $250,000, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recommends submitting a Workers’ Compensation Medicare Set-Aside Arrangement for review.⁹ A set-aside earmarks part of the settlement to pay for future injury-related medical expenses Medicare would otherwise cover. No statute technically requires CMS approval, but failing to protect Medicare’s interest can result in Medicare refusing to pay for treatment related to your injury.

Taxes on the Settlement

Workers’ compensation settlements are fully exempt from federal income tax. Under 26 U.S.C. § 104, amounts received under a workers’ compensation act as compensation for personal injury or sickness are excluded from gross income.¹⁰ The IRS confirms this applies to temporary disability payments, permanent disability payments, medical treatment settlements, and lump-sum injury settlements alike.¹¹ Missouri follows the same treatment at the state level. You generally don’t report these benefits on your tax return.

A few narrow exceptions exist. Interest paid by an insurer for late benefits is taxable. Wages for light-duty work are taxed normally. And any portion of a settlement reflecting a retaliation or discrimination claim rather than physical injury may also be taxable.¹¹

Deadlines That Protect the Claim

Missouri gives you two years from the date of injury, the date of death, or the last workers’ compensation payment to file a Claim for Compensation with the Division. If your employer or insurer failed to file the required First Report of Injury with the Division, that deadline extends to three years.¹² For occupational diseases, the clock doesn’t start until the disease becomes reasonably discoverable, which can push the deadline out significantly for conditions like mesothelioma or repetitive stress injuries that develop gradually.

Missing the deadline forfeits your right to pursue the claim, and no settlement can happen without a valid claim on file. If you’re anywhere close, file first and negotiate later.

Getting the Settlement Approved

No settlement is valid until an administrative law judge approves it. The statute requires the judge to confirm the agreement is not the product of fraud or undue influence, that you fully understand your rights and benefits, and that you voluntarily accept the terms.¹ The approval hearing is usually brief. The judge speaks directly with you to confirm you understand what you’re giving up, particularly the finality of a Stipulation for Compromise Settlement. If you’re unrepresented, the judge is required to explain your rights before signing off.

Bring two documents in particular. First, the final medical report stating your permanent partial disability rating as a specific percentage; a hedging report will stall negotiations. Second, a certified wage statement from your employer covering the thirteen weeks immediately before the injury. Verify those numbers against your own pay stubs, because an understated wage figure directly shrinks your settlement.

After approval, the insurer issues the lump sum. Missouri law allows the compromise settlement to be paid as a one-time lump sum.¹ If payment is delayed, contact the Division of Workers’ Compensation.

What Finality Really Means

Once an administrative law judge approves the settlement, it is essentially permanent. There is no appeal from an approved settlement.¹³ A compromise settlement approved during your lifetime also extinguishes future death benefit claims tied to the same injury, provided the settlement resolved a dispute on any issue beyond the extent of disability or the compensation rate. That finality is why the choice between a full compromise and an Award by Consent matters. If you took the compromise and your condition later deteriorates, there is no path back. Get the disability rating right, verify the wage math, and pick the agreement that matches your medical outlook before you sign.

1
Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 287.390 – Compromise Settlements, How Made
2
Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. Benefits for Injured Workers
3
Social Security Administration. Social Security Administration – POMS DI 52120.140 – Missouri Workers Compensation
4
Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 287.190 – Permanent Partial Disability, Amount To Be Paid
5
Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 287.250 – Compensation, Computation Of
6
Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. State Average Weekly Wage and Maximums Memo Effective July 1, 2025 Through June 30, 2026
7
Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. Settling a Case
8
Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. Second Injury Fund
9
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Workers Compensation Medicare Set Aside Arrangements
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 104 – Compensation for Injuries or Sickness
11
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 525 – Taxable and Nontaxable Income
12
Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. What Is the Period of Limitations to File a Claim for Compensation With the Division
13
Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. Injured Workers Appeals