The Pennsylvania workers’ comp settlement chart assigns each permanent injury a fixed number of weeks of benefits, and you multiply those weeks by two-thirds of your pre-injury average weekly wage to get the settlement value. Lose a foot at a $600 weekly compensation rate and the chart’s 275 total weeks produce $165,000. The weeks are set by Section 306(c) of the Workers’ Compensation Act; the dollars swing with your wage history, the state’s annual cap, and whether you let future medical benefits close out when you sign.
Weeks by Body Part
Section 306(c) lists each body part alongside the weeks the insurer must pay at your compensation rate:
- Hand: 335 weeks
- Arm: 410 weeks
- Foot: 250 weeks
- Leg: 410 weeks
- Eye (total loss of vision): 275 weeks
- Thumb: 100 weeks
- Index finger: 50 weeks
- Second finger: 40 weeks
- Third finger: 30 weeks
- Little finger: 28 weeks
- Great toe: 40 weeks
- Any other toe: 16 weeks
These numbers cover complete loss or permanent loss of use “for all practical intents and purposes.” Partial loss of use can also qualify, with the weeks prorated by the degree of impairment documented by a physician.1Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act – Section 306
Hearing Loss
Hearing uses a formula instead of a flat number. Your binaural hearing impairment percentage under the AMA Impairment Guides is multiplied by 260 weeks, so complete loss in both ears tops out at 260 and a 50% impairment yields 130 weeks. Single-ear losses multiply the impairment percentage by 60 weeks.2Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 77 PS 513 – Compensation for Specific Losses
Disfigurement of the Head, Neck, or Face
Serious, permanent scarring or disfigurement of the head, neck, or face qualifies for up to 275 weeks under Section 306(c)(22). The disfigurement must be severe enough to produce “an unsightly appearance” and must not be the type of scarring normally associated with the worker’s job. Burns, deep lacerations, and surgical scars are the common qualifying injuries. There is no fixed week count; a workers’ compensation judge decides the number of weeks up to the 275-week cap.1Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act – Section 306
Healing-Period Weeks Added On Top
The statute adds a separate healing period to every specific loss, which covers the time needed to recover from the initial trauma before permanent impairment can be evaluated. These weeks stack on top of the chart figures:
- Hand, forearm, or arm: 20 weeks
- Foot, lower leg, or leg: 25 weeks
- Eye: 10 weeks
- Hearing: 10 weeks
- Thumb: 10 weeks
- Any other finger: 6 weeks
- Great toe: 12 weeks
- Any other toe: 6 weeks
The healing period ends early if the worker returns to employment without any loss of earnings before the scheduled weeks run out.3Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act
Combined, a hand loss runs 355 weeks (335 + 20), a foot loss 275 weeks (250 + 25), and a leg loss 435 weeks (410 + 25). The combined totals are what drive the actual settlement dollars.
How Your Weekly Rate Is Figured
Pennsylvania pays specific-loss benefits at two-thirds (66⅔%) of your pre-injury average weekly wage.4Department of Labor and Industry. Statewide Average Weekly Wage
The average weekly wage is not your last paycheck. The statute takes your total earnings across the highest three of the last four consecutive 13-week periods in the year before the injury and averages those three periods. Bonuses, incentive payments, and vacation pay earned on an annual basis are divided by 52 and added to the weekly figure. Employer fringe benefits like retirement contributions, health insurance, and life insurance premiums are not counted.5Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 77 PS 582 – Average Weekly Wage Calculation
For injuries occurring in 2026, the maximum weekly compensation rate is $1,394. Pre-injury wages above the level that produces that cap do not raise your rate any further. At the low end, workers earning $774.43 per week or less receive 90% of their average weekly wage instead of two-thirds, so very low-wage workers are not reduced to benefits too small to live on.4Department of Labor and Industry. Statewide Average Weekly Wage
Sample Payouts
Take a worker earning $1,200 per week before the injury. The compensation rate is two-thirds of that, or $800. Apply the chart with the healing weeks included:
- Hand: $800 × 355 weeks = $284,000
- Foot: $800 × 275 weeks = $220,000
- Thumb: $800 × 110 weeks = $88,000
- Index finger: $800 × 56 weeks = $44,800
A higher earner at the 2026 maximum rate of $1,394 losing the same hand would receive $1,394 × 355 = $494,870. Same chart, very different checks. The number of weeks is fixed by statute; the dollars track your wage history.
What You Give Up When You Settle
A settlement check is not free money. When you sign a Compromise and Release Agreement, the agreement states that after approval the employer “will never have to pay any other workers’ compensation benefits under the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act for the injury.”6Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry. Compromise and Release Agreement by Stipulation – LIBC-755
No future wage-loss payments if your condition worsens. No additional medical coverage for the injury unless the settlement specifically preserves it. Some agreements carve out ongoing medical benefits; many do not. If yours does not explicitly keep medical open, you pay for all future treatment related to that injury out of pocket. This is where most workers misread the deal: the lump-sum number is big, and what they are signing away is easy to overlook.
Pennsylvania caps attorney fees at 20% of the settlement. A $200,000 settlement means up to $40,000 goes to the lawyer. The fee has to be approved by the workers’ compensation judge and must be disclosed in the settlement documents as both a percentage and a dollar amount.7Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 77 PS 998 – Attorney Fees
Taxes
Workers’ compensation settlements, lump sum or installment, are excluded from federal gross income under the Internal Revenue Code. That exclusion covers the entire settlement, including the healing-period weeks.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 104 – Compensation for Injuries or Sickness Pennsylvania does not tax the benefits at the state level either, so $200,000 on the chart puts $200,000 in your pocket before attorney fees and liens.
Social Security and Medicare Can Shrink the Net
If you receive Social Security Disability Insurance alongside workers’ compensation, SSA reduces your SSDI check so the combined total does not exceed 80% of your “average current earnings” before the disability. The offset runs until you reach full retirement age or workers’ comp payments stop, whichever comes first.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 424a – Reduction of Disability Insurance Benefits
A lump sum triggers the same offset. SSA treats it as if it were spread across periodic payments and reduces SSDI accordingly. Settlement agreements can include “proration language” that spreads the lump sum over a longer period, lowering the monthly figure SSA uses in the offset and preserving more of your SSDI. This is a drafting issue that has to be handled before the settlement is finalized.10Social Security Administration. How Workers’ Compensation and Other Disability Payments May Affect Your Benefits
Medicare adds another layer. Workers who are already on Medicare or who expect to qualify within 30 months of settlement face CMS rules requiring that Medicare’s financial interests be protected, usually through a Workers’ Compensation Medicare Set-Aside account that covers future injury-related care Medicare would otherwise pay. CMS reviews the set-aside when the settlement is $25,000 or more and the worker is already a Medicare beneficiary, or $250,000 or more with a reasonable expectation of Medicare eligibility within 30 months. The review thresholds are not safe harbors. Even under them, failing to account for Medicare’s interest can lead Medicare to refuse to pay for later treatment related to the work injury, and any outstanding Medicare lien has to be resolved and disclosed in the settlement paperwork.
Deadline to File
Pennsylvania gives injured workers three years from the date of injury to file a workers’ compensation claim. For specific loss claims the clock starts at the injury date, not the date a doctor confirms the permanence of the impairment. Workers who have already received some form of payment or benefits “in lieu of compensation” get three years from the last payment date instead. Miss the deadline and the claim is forfeited, no matter how strong the medical evidence.