South Carolina Workers’ Comp Settlement: Clincher, Amount, Deadlines

A South Carolina workers’ comp settlement takes one of two forms: a Form 16 agreement that pays you for a permanent disability rating while keeping your medical benefits open, or a Clincher that pays a lump sum and closes the claim for good. The dollar figure in either case is built from your weekly compensation rate, the number of weeks the law assigns to the injured body part, and the impairment rating your doctor issues once you reach maximum medical improvement. For injuries on or after January 1, 2026, the maximum weekly compensation rate is $1,189.94, which caps what any settlement can pay per week.¹

Form 16 or Clincher: The Choice That Shapes the Settlement

Picking between these two is the single most consequential decision in the case, because one preserves your future medical care and the other trades it away.

Form 16 Agreement

A Form 16 settles only the disability portion of the claim. You and the carrier agree on a permanent disability percentage for the injured body part, and you collect weekly compensation based on that rating. Medical benefits stay open. If your condition worsens, you can file for additional compensation within one year from the date of your last payment.² The form itself records your compensation rate, the agreed disability percentage, and the number of weeks you’ll be paid.³

This is usually the better route when treatment is ongoing or the long-term outlook is uncertain. Back injuries, shoulder surgeries, and knee replacements tend to fit here. You take a smaller check now in exchange for continued medical coverage later.

Clincher Settlement

A Clincher, formally an Agreement and Final Release, ends everything. The carrier pays a lump sum and you give up all future compensation and medical benefits tied to the injury. Once a Commissioner or the Claims Department approves it, the case cannot be reopened even if your condition deteriorates sharply.⁴

Unrepresented workers must appear before the Commissioner assigned to the claim at an informal conference before the Clincher is approved. If you have an attorney, both attorneys and you sign and the document is filed directly with the Claims Department.⁵ The authority for both types of voluntary settlement is Section 42-9-390, which lets employers and employees settle as long as the amount and terms comply with the workers’ compensation law.⁶

Carriers typically pay a premium on a Clincher because they are buying permanent closure. That premium is your leverage, but it only works if the offer is measured against a realistic estimate of future medical costs.

How the Settlement Amount Is Calculated

Every settlement number in South Carolina comes from two inputs: your average weekly wage and the compensable weeks your injury is worth.

Weekly Compensation Rate

Your average weekly wage is the total wages from the four complete quarters before the quarter you were hurt, divided by 52 or by the actual number of weeks worked, whichever divisor produces the lower figure.⁷ Your weekly compensation rate is two-thirds (66⅔%) of that figure, subject to the statewide cap of $1,189.94 for 2026 injuries.⁸

Scheduled Weeks by Body Part

Section 42-9-30 assigns a fixed number of weeks to specific body parts. Your Form 16 amount equals your weekly rate times the scheduled weeks times the disability percentage. Key values include:

Hand: 185 weeks
Arm: 220 weeks
Shoulder: 300 weeks
Foot: 140 weeks
Leg: 195 weeks
Hip: 280 weeks
Eye: 140 weeks
Thumb: 65 weeks
Index finger: 40 weeks
Great toe: 35 weeks

If your weekly rate is $800 and the doctor assigns a 20% disability to your shoulder, the math is $800 × 300 × 20% = $48,000.⁹

Injuries that don’t fit the schedule fall under partial disability, which is capped at 340 weeks from the date of injury.¹⁰ Total disability cases can receive up to 500 weeks.⁸

The Impairment Rating

The disability percentage that drives the calculation comes from a permanent impairment rating issued by your treating physician after you reach Maximum Medical Improvement, the point where more treatment won’t meaningfully change your condition. Doctors use the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment to produce the rating.¹¹ Without an MMI determination and a rating, the Commission will not approve a settlement.

Ratings from the treating doctor and from the insurer’s independent medical examiner rarely match. Most of the negotiation on a serious claim happens in that gap.

Getting the Settlement Finalized

Documentation

Before anyone talks numbers, the file needs to be complete: every medical record, diagnostic scan, surgical note, and the physician’s final MMI report and impairment rating. Add an accurate average weekly wage calculation backed by wage records, a list of any outstanding medical bills, and any liens from health insurers or Medicare. The Commission’s forms are on the Workers’ Compensation Commission website in fillable PDF format.¹²

The Informal Conference

Most settlements pass through an Informal Conference, where a Commission representative meets with you and the carrier’s representative to confirm that all proper benefits have been paid and that the proposed terms are fair.¹³ A claims mediator can handle a Form 16 review when total medical benefits fall below the Commission’s threshold; a Commissioner presides on a Clincher or when medical benefits exceed the threshold.¹⁴ The reviewing official can reject an agreement that isn’t fair or doesn’t comply with the law.

Approval and Payment

Once approved, the settlement is legally binding. For compensation payable under an approved agreement, the carrier faces a 10% penalty on any installment not paid within 14 days of becoming due, unless the Commission excuses the delay for reasons beyond the employer’s control. For compensation payable under a Commission award, the first installment is due seven days after the award date, and interest runs from the original award date at the maximum legal rate.¹⁵

Attorney Fees and Filing Costs

South Carolina caps attorney fees in workers’ compensation cases at one-third (33.3%) of the total compensation awarded. The cap applies to the combined fees of all attorneys representing one party, so co-counsel or a switch of lawyers cannot stack fees beyond it.¹⁶ The fee comes out of your settlement, not on top of it. On a $60,000 settlement, that can be up to $20,000. The Commission also charges a $50 filing fee for Clincher settlements and related conference requests.¹²

Deadlines That Can End the Claim

The core deadline is the two-year statute of limitations. A claim must be filed with the Commission within two years of the accident, or within two years of death if the injury was fatal. For occupational diseases, the clock starts at a definitive diagnosis. For repetitive trauma, you have two years from the date you knew or should have known the injury was compensable, but no more than seven years from the last date of exposure.¹⁷

If you settled on a Form 16 and your condition worsens, you have one year from the date of your last compensation payment to file for additional compensation.² The year runs from the last payment, not from the date you signed. That is where workers most often lose the right to reopen.

Taxes, Social Security, and Medicare

Taxes

Workers’ compensation benefits, including lump-sum settlements, are excluded from gross income under Section 104(a)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code.¹⁸ South Carolina follows the federal treatment, so no W-2 or 1099 issues and no reporting on your state return. One exception: if you also collect Social Security disability, a portion of those Social Security payments can become taxable.

SSDI Offset

If you collect both workers’ compensation and Social Security Disability Insurance, the combined total cannot exceed 80% of your average current earnings. When the two together cross that line, Social Security reduces its payment, not the workers’ compensation benefit.¹⁹ A well-drafted Clincher can sometimes be allocated to reduce the offset, but only if the lawyer understands how Social Security converts a lump sum into a monthly figure. Report any change in workers’ compensation benefits to Social Security in writing.

Medicare Set-Aside

Clincher settlements that include future medical expenses can trigger a Medicare Set-Aside. CMS will review a proposed arrangement if you are a current Medicare beneficiary and the settlement is $25,000 or more, or if you have a reasonable expectation of Medicare eligibility within 30 months and the settlement is $250,000 or more. You have a “reasonable expectation” if you have applied for Social Security Disability or are 62½ or older.

These thresholds are not safe harbors. Even below them, the parties still have to protect Medicare’s future interest when a settlement ends the carrier’s responsibility for injury-related care. When a Set-Aside is created, the funds must sit in a separate account and pay only for future injury-related care that Medicare would otherwise cover. You must track every deposit and withdrawal, submit an annual attestation, and administer the account until it is fully depleted.²⁰ Misusing the account can leave you personally responsible for bills Medicare then refuses to pay.

If a Third Party Caused the Injury

When someone other than your employer contributed to the injury, such as a negligent driver, an equipment manufacturer, or a property owner, you may have a separate personal injury claim on top of workers’ compensation. If you recover from the third party, the workers’ compensation carrier generally holds a lien to recoup the medical and wage-loss benefits it already paid, which prevents double recovery for the same losses. Coordinating the two cases, and negotiating the lien down, can meaningfully change what you keep from the combined recovery.

1
Workers’ Compensation Commission. Compensation Rates
2
South Carolina Workers’ Compensation Commission. Form 16 – Agreement for Permanent Disability/Disfigurement Compensation
3
Legal Information Institute. South Carolina Code Regulations 67-802 – Settlement, Form 16, Form 16A
4
South Carolina Workers’ Compensation Commission. Chapter 67 South Carolina Workers’ Compensation Commission Regulations – Section 67-801
5
South Carolina Workers’ Compensation Commission. Chapter 67 South Carolina Workers’ Compensation Commission Regulations – Section 67-803
6
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 42-9-390 – Voluntary Settlements
7
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 42-1-40 – Average Weekly Wages Defined
8
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 42-9-10 – Amount of Compensation for Total Disability
9
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 42-9-30 – Schedule of Period of Disability and Compensation
10
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 42-9-20 – Amount of Compensation for Partial Disability
11
American Medical Association. AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment: An Overview
12
South Carolina Workers’ Compensation Commission. South Carolina Workers’ Compensation Commission Forms
13
South Carolina Workers’ Compensation Commission. Frequently Asked Questions About Informal Conferences
14
Legal Information Institute. South Carolina Code of Regulations 67-804 – Informal Conference
15
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 42-9-240 – Date on Which Compensation Payable Under Award Becomes Due
16
Legal Information Institute. South Carolina Code of Regulations 67-1205 – Determining a Reasonable Fee
17
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 42-15-40 – Time for Filing Claim
18
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 104 – Compensation for Injuries or Sickness
19
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 424a – Reduction of Disability Benefits
20
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. WCMSA Self-Administration