Hurt at work in Vermont? Deadlines, weekly benefit and how to file
Tell your employer about the injury immediately. The law requires notice to your employer as soon as practicable after the injury. File your claim within 3 years (the date of injury).
Temporary total disability (TTD) compensation can pay two-thirds of your gross (before-tax) wages, up to $1,914 a week (July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027).
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 Vermont, temporary total disability is a weekly payment for part of your lost wages while your work injury keeps you from working at all. Your employer's insurance company pays the claim, and the Vermont Department of Labor's Workers' Compensation Division resolves disputes, first informally and then at a formal hearing before the Commissioner.
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 Vermont
Free tools that run in your browser. Nothing you enter is saved or sent until you download, copy or print a document.
Deadline helper
Written notice to your employer
A letter that tells your employer, in writing, that you were hurt or made sick by your work.
Claim checklist: what to gather and do
A printable list of papers to keep and steps to take.
Deadlines in Vermont
- Tell your employer
Tell your employer about the injury immediately. The law requires notice to your employer as soon as practicable after the injury.
- File your claim
- 3 years
- Waiting period
Temporary total disability is not paid for the first 3 days of disability.
Weekly benefit in Vermont
- What it pays
- Two-thirds of your gross (before-tax) wages
- Maximum
- $1,914 a week (July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027)
- Minimum
- $638 a week (July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027)
- Minimum rule
If your average weekly wage is below the minimum ($638 a week from July 1, 2026), your temporary disability benefit is 90% of your average weekly wage instead. In every case, your total weekly benefit, including any child amounts, cannot be more than 90% of your average weekly wage.
- Applies to
- The Vermont workers' compensation year July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027 (rates are also adjusted each July 1 for people already receiving benefits)
Law: 21 V.S.A. §§ 601(18)-(19), 642, 643, 650
Source: labor.vermont.gov
We do not offer a calculator for Vermont: its rule has parts that a simple estimate cannot show. Read the rule above and ask the state agency.
Who is your doctor in Vermont?
- Who chooses
- It depends: network and choice rules both apply
Your employer may choose the health care provider for your first treatment right after the injury. After that first visit, you may choose your own health care provider.
To change from the employer's provider, give your employer written notice of why you are not satisfied and the name and address of the provider you chose, using Form 8, Notice of Intent to Change Health Care Provider (available from the insurer or the Department). If you do not give this notice, the insurer may be allowed to refuse to pay the new provider unless the failure was excusable.
Law: 21 V.S.A. § 640(b)
Source: labor.vermont.gov
Who is covered in Vermont
- Size of employer
Vermont requires workers' compensation coverage for all employment, regardless of the number of employees. Employers are liable for anyone they employ, including independent contractors and subcontractors who do not meet the legal test for being in business for themselves.
- Special rules
- Agriculture / farm employment: Farm workers are not covered if the employer's total payroll is less than $10,000 in a calendar year, unless the employer chooses coverage.
- Work in or about a private home: Not covered unless the employer chooses to be covered.
- Not covered
- Casual work that is not part of the employer's trade or business
- Amateur sports
- Farm work for an employer with a total payroll under $10,000 a year (unless the employer elects coverage)
- Work in or about a private home (unless the employer elects coverage)
- Family members living in the employer's home (unless included in the insurance payroll)
- Sole proprietors and partners who meet all of the law's tests for an independent business and sign a written agreement
- Up to four executive officers or LLC members who elect to be excluded
- Contractors
Coverage is required for anyone you work for as an employee, and the Department says employers are liable for independent contractors and subcontractors too. A sole proprietor is excluded only if they meet every test in the law: separate work, control over how it is done, in business for themselves for the public, not taxed as an employee, and a written contract saying so.
- If your employer has no insurance
If you think your employer has no workers' compensation insurance, you can report it online to the Department of Labor, which investigates and can order the employer to get insurance, close the business until it does, or assess penalties. Call the Workers' Compensation Division at (802) 828-2286 for help with your claim.
Source: link on its coverage page
Law: 21 V.S.A. §§ 601(14), 687, 692
Source: labor.vermont.gov
If your claim is denied or delayed in Vermont
- First step
File Form 6, Notice and Application for Hearing (or similar written notice), with the Department. A Department specialist reviews the evidence you and the insurer send and usually holds an informal telephone conference.
Fired or punished for filing in Vermont
No one may fire or discriminate against you because you asserted or tried to assert a workers' compensation claim (in Vermont or under another state's or federal law). An employer also may not refuse to hire you because you made a workers' compensation claim.
- The law
- 21 V.S.A. § 710
- What you may get
The anti-retaliation, penalty and enforcement provisions of Vermont's Fair Employment Practices Act apply. The Attorney General or a State's Attorney can also enforce the law and seek civil penalties.
Law: 21 V.S.A. §§ 495(a)(8) and 495b
- Where to file
Vermont Attorney General's Office (Civil Rights Unit) or a State's Attorney, or a lawsuit in Superior Court under 21 V.S.A. § 495b.
Law: 21 V.S.A. § 710
Source: legislature.vermont.gov
Lawyers' fees and other benefits in Vermont
If you win in an informal or formal proceeding, the Commissioner must award your necessary costs and may award reasonable attorney's fees. If you win an appeal in Superior Court or the Supreme Court, you are entitled to reasonable attorney's fees approved by the court, costs, and 12% annual interest on contested amounts.
Vermont workers' compensation also pays medical benefits, temporary partial disability (two-thirds of the difference between your full and part-time pay), permanent partial and permanent total disability, vocational rehabilitation, and death benefits.
Free help in Vermont
State agency
Vermont Department of Labor, Workers' Compensation Division
- Phone
- (802) 828-2286
- Address
- Vermont Department of Labor, Workers' Compensation Division, 5 Green Mountain Drive, P.O. Box 488, Montpelier, VT 05601-0488
Free help
Good to know in Vermont
- Temporary total disability adds $20 a week for each dependent child under 21; that amount is set to drop to $10 on July 1, 2028.
- Your employer may not hold back any of your wages for time you miss work to get treatment for the work injury or to attend a medical exam about it.
- Benefits you are receiving are adjusted for cost of living each July 1 after the first 26 weeks of payments.
Changes in 2024–2026
From July 1, 2026 the maximum weekly compensation is $1,914 and the minimum $638 (from $1,836 and $612 for July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026). Act 40 of 2025 (effective July 1, 2025) raised penalties for repeated late payments (5%, then 10%, then 15%, at least $10) and added medical case management to the preauthorization process; matching Workers' Compensation Rules 1-27 took effect July 1, 2026. The dependent-child supplement rose from $10 to $20 a week on July 1, 2023 and is scheduled to return to $10 on July 1, 2028.
Questions about workers' comp in Vermont
How long do I have to file a workers' comp claim in Vermont?
The law says a claim for compensation should be made within 6 months after the injury, but a late claim is not barred if your employer knew about the accident or was not harmed by the delay, and no claim is needed if compensation is being paid voluntarily.
How much does workers' comp pay in Vermont?
Temporary total disability (TTD) compensation can pay two-thirds of your gross (before-tax) wages, up to $1,914 a week (July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027).
Can I choose my own doctor for a work injury in Vermont?
Your employer may choose the health care provider for your first treatment right after the injury. After that first visit, you may choose your own health care provider.
Can my employer fire me for filing a workers' comp claim in Vermont?
No one may fire or discriminate against you because you asserted or tried to assert a workers' compensation claim (in Vermont or under another state's or federal law).
What if my workers' comp claim is denied in Vermont?
File Form 6, Notice and Application for Hearing (or similar written notice), with the Department. A Department specialist reviews the evidence you and the insurer send and usually holds an informal telephone conference.
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
- VDOL Workers' Compensation: Injured Workers
- VDOL: Claims Filing, Understanding the Claims Process, Benefits, and Dispute Resolution
- VDOL: Minimum and Maximum Compensation Rates: Annual Change
- VDOL: Does My Employer Have Workers' Comp Coverage?
- VDOL: Injured Workers' Forms
- VDOL Director's memo on rule changes effective July 1, 2026 (June 30, 2026)
- 21 V.S.A. chapter 9 (Vermont General Assembly)
- 21 V.S.A. § 601
- 21 V.S.A. § 640
- 21 V.S.A. § 642
- 21 V.S.A. § 650
- 21 V.S.A. § 656
- 21 V.S.A. § 660
- 21 V.S.A. § 670
- 21 V.S.A. § 678
- 21 V.S.A. § 701
- 21 V.S.A. § 710