Why there is no honest workers' comp settlement calculator

The honest answer

Many sites offer a "workers' comp settlement calculator": you type an injury and a wage, and a number comes out. That number is not an estimate of your settlement in any meaningful sense. A settlement is a negotiated agreement to close some or all of a claim, and its value depends on facts no form collects. We do not offer one, and this page explains why — and what you can calculate exactly.

What a settlement is actually made of

• Unpaid and future wage-loss benefits. The weekly rate is the one figure that is formula-driven — it is what our calculator computes. How many future weeks are being bought out is not.
• Permanent disability. In most states this depends on an impairment rating from a physician, often under the AMA Guides, sometimes on a schedule of body parts with a set number of weeks each. Two doctors can rate the same injury differently, and the rating is frequently the main dispute.
• Future medical care. Closing medical benefits means pricing years of treatment, prescriptions or surgery. Where Medicare may later pay, a Medicare set-aside can be required.
• Legal risk on both sides. Disputes about whether the injury is work-related, whether a pre-existing condition contributed, or whether the worker refused suitable work all move the number — in either direction.
• State rules. Some states require a judge or board to approve any settlement; some limit what can be closed; in many states attorney fees are set or capped by statute and come out of the award.

Why the online formulas mislead

Settlement calculators typically multiply a weekly rate by an arbitrary number of weeks, or apply a percentage to a "case value" that is itself a guess. They cannot see the impairment rating, the medical evidence, the strength of a defense or your state's approval rules. A confident dollar figure built on those gaps can anchor a worker to accept too little — or reject a fair offer.

What you can calculate precisely

• Your weekly temporary total disability rate, from your wage, injury date and state.
• What you are owed for a given number of days off, after the state's waiting period.
• Your temporary partial benefit if you are back at work on reduced pay.

Those figures are a sound starting point for checking what an insurer is paying now, and for understanding what any settlement offer would replace.

Where to get a real number

Your state's workers' compensation agency — linked from every state page — explains settlement procedures and often runs an ombudsman or information line. Most workers' compensation attorneys offer a free consultation, and in many states their fees are limited by statute. Read any settlement carefully: closing a claim usually ends your right to future benefits for that injury.