Hurt at work in Hawaii? Deadlines, weekly benefit and how to file

Report the injury to your immediate supervisor or employer right away; DCD says you can do this orally or in writing. File your claim within 2 years.

Temporary total disability (TTD) benefits can pay two-thirds of your gross (before-tax) wages, up to $1,240 a week in 2026.

Your employer's insurer, not the state, usually decides first. If they deny or delay, the free help listed here can explain your options.

In Hawaii, temporary total disability benefits replace part of your wages while a doctor certifies that a work injury keeps you from working. Your employer's insurance carrier pays the claim; if there is a dispute, the Disability Compensation Division holds a hearing and its decision can be appealed to the Labor and Industrial Relations Appeals Board.

What are my deadlines?How much will I get?Who is my doctor?Claim denied?

Checked against official sources: October 31, 2026.

Deadlines are strict. If you are near one, call the state agency or free help today.

Free tools for Hawaii

Free tools that run in your browser. Nothing you enter is saved or sent until you download, copy or print a document.

Deadline helper

Worked out in your browser. Nothing you enter here is saved or sent.

If you are not sure of the exact day, use the earliest day you think it could be.

Enter the date of injury

We add the number from the law to your date. Nothing is saved.

Benefit estimate calculator

This estimate uses the rule in Hawaii's data: a share of your average weekly wage, up to the state maximum.

Worked out in your browser. Nothing you enter here is saved or sent.

Gross pay per week, as the insurer would figure it. Include regular overtime and tips if they were part of your pay.

Enter your pay

We apply the rule in the law. Nothing is saved.

Written notice to your employer

A letter that tells your employer, in writing, that you were hurt or made sick by your work.

Where the reply should be sent.

Required when you mail it. Not needed if you hand it in person.

In your own words, in English. Keep it short and factual. Do not guess why it happened.

It goes into the letter as you type it.

Other formats

Claim checklist: what to gather and do

A printable list of papers to keep and steps to take.

What you already have

Hawaii
Other formats

Your checklist

Deadlines in Hawaii

Tell your employer

Report the injury to your immediate supervisor or employer right away; DCD says you can do this orally or in writing.

File your claim
2 years
Waiting period

Temporary total disability is not paid for the first 3 calendar days of disability.

All the details →

Weekly benefit in Hawaii

What it pays
Two-thirds of your gross (before-tax) wages
Maximum
$1,240 a week in 2026
Minimum
$310 a week in 2026
Minimum rule

The minimum is $310 a week in 2026 (25% of the maximum). If your average weekly wage is less than the minimum, you receive 100% of your average weekly wage.

Applies to
Injuries in calendar year 2026

Law: Haw. Rev. Stat. § 386-31(a)-(b)

Source: data.capitol.hawaii.gov

All the details →

Who is your doctor in Hawaii?

Who chooses
You choose

You may be treated by a physician of your choice who practices on the island where you live. Some physicians choose not to treat work injuries; if yours declines, choose another. You may be under the care of only one attending physician, who may refer you to specialists with the insurance carrier's approval.

You may change your attending physician once, but you must notify the employer's insurance carrier before making the change. Any other change needs approval from the insurance carrier or the Director before the change.

Law: Haw. Admin. R. Title 12, Ch. 15

Source: labor.hawaii.gov

Who is covered in Hawaii

Size of employer

Any employer with one or more employees, full-time or part-time, permanent or temporary, must provide workers' compensation coverage, unless the work is excluded by law. Hawaii has no state fund; employers buy insurance from a private carrier or are approved to self-insure.

Special rules
  • Household (personal, family or household) workers: Not covered if the cash pay is less than $225 in the current calendar quarter and in each completed quarter of the preceding 12 months.
Not covered
  • Unpaid volunteers for religious, charitable, educational or nonprofit organizations
  • Students working for a school, college, club, fraternity or sorority in return for room, board or tuition
  • Ministers, priests and rabbis in their ministry
  • Household workers paid less than $225 cash per calendar quarter
  • Certain domestic and in-home care workers paid through social service programs
  • Unpaid corporate officers who own 25% or more of a corporation with no employees, and certain 50% stockholders
  • Real estate salespersons and brokers paid only by commission
  • Federal employees and workers in fishing, maritime and longshore work are covered by federal laws, sometimes in addition to state law
If your employer has no insurance

If your employer has no workers' compensation coverage, contact the DCD Investigation Section in Honolulu or the nearest neighbor-island DLIR district office. If you do not receive prompt and proper compensation through no fault of your own, the Director pays the awarded benefits from the Special Compensation Fund and the employer must repay the fund.

Special Compensation Fund

Law: Haw. Rev. Stat. §§ 386-1, 386-56

Source: labor.hawaii.gov

If your claim is denied or delayed in Hawaii

First step

If your employer denies the claim, file Form WC-5 with your nearest DCD office and have your doctor send a Physician's Report (WC-2). For any issue that cannot be resolved by agreement (a denied treatment plan, stopped TTD benefits, or any other disagreement), request a hearing by filing an Application for Hearing with DCD.

Form
Application for Hearing (Form WC-77)

All the details →

Fired or punished for filing in Hawaii

It is unlawful for an employer to suspend, discharge or discriminate against you solely because you suffered a compensable work injury, unless you can no longer do your work because of the injury and the employer has no other available work you can do. If you are discharged because of the work injury, you must be given first preference for rehiring in any job you can do that opens up before you find new work. (The section 378-32 rule does not apply to employers with fewer than 3 employees at the time of the injury or where a union contract prevents it; section 386-142 covers those employers.)

The law
Haw. Rev. Stat. §§ 378-32(a)(2), 378-33 and 386-142
What you may get

After a hearing, the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations may order reinstatement to your prior position, with or without back pay, or back pay without reinstatement.

Where to file

File a written complaint with the Hawaii Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

Deadline

Within 30 days after the unlawful suspension, discharge or discrimination, or after you learn of the suspension or discharge. If you were discharged while still unable to work because of the injury, you may also file within 30 days after the date you are able to return to work.

Law: Haw. Rev. Stat. §§ 378-32, 378-33, 378-35, 386-142

Source: data.capitol.hawaii.gov

Lawyers' fees and other benefits in Hawaii

You are not required to hire an attorney. If you do, the attorney's fees must be approved by the Disability Compensation Division (or the nearest neighbor-island DLIR district office) and are usually a lien on your workers' compensation benefits.

Hawaii workers' compensation also pays medical care and reasonable transportation to treatment, permanent partial disability, permanent total disability, disfigurement awards for scars, vocational rehabilitation, and death benefits to dependents, with funeral expenses up to 10 times and burial expenses up to 5 times the maximum weekly benefit.

Free help in Hawaii

State agency

Hawaii Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, Disability Compensation Division (DCD)

Phone
808-586-9161
Address
Princess Keelikolani Building, 830 Punchbowl Street, Room 209, Honolulu, HI 96813 (mail: P.O. Box 3769, Honolulu, HI 96812-3769)
Find an office

Free help

Good to know in Hawaii

  • If your claim is disputed and you are not being paid, you may file a temporary disability insurance (TDI) claim with your employer's TDI carrier; the TDI carrier can be repaid from your workers' compensation benefits.
  • If you work more than one job, benefits for wages from your other employer may be paid by the Special Compensation Fund.
  • The law presumes a claim is a covered work injury unless the employer produces substantial evidence to the contrary (DCD, About Workers' Compensation).

Changes in 2024–2026

For 2026 the workers' compensation maximum weekly benefit is $1,240 (state average weekly wage), with a maximum weekly wage base of $1,859.91. DCD adopted a universal Hawaii Workers' Compensation Treatment Plan form (April 30, 2024) and new medical fee schedule rules effective January 1, 2026.

Source: DCD notice of December 10, 2025

Questions about workers' comp in Hawaii

How long do I have to file a workers' comp claim in Hawaii?

Your right to compensation is barred unless you make a written claim to the Director of Labor and Industrial Relations within 2 years after the effects of the injury became manifest, and within 5 years after the accident.

How much does workers' comp pay in Hawaii?

Temporary total disability (TTD) benefits can pay two-thirds of your gross (before-tax) wages, up to $1,240 a week in 2026.

Can I choose my own doctor for a work injury in Hawaii?

You may be treated by a physician of your choice who practices on the island where you live. Some physicians choose not to treat work injuries; if yours declines, choose another.

Can my employer fire me for filing a workers' comp claim in Hawaii?

It is unlawful for an employer to suspend, discharge or discriminate against you solely because you suffered a compensable work injury, unless you can no longer do your work because of the injury and the employer has no other available work you can do.

What if my workers' comp claim is denied in Hawaii?

If your employer denies the claim, file Form WC-5 with your nearest DCD office and have your doctor send a Physician's Report (WC-2).

Not about a work injury?

Not about a work injury? Unpaid wages → Wage Claim Map · Hurt in a car crash → Accident Claim Map · A medical bill → Medical Bill Map · Unemployment benefits → Unemployment Claim Map · Other problems → robinclaim.com

Nearby states

Sources