Workers' comp weekly benefit in Vermont: how much it pays

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).

Checked against official sources: October 31, 2026.

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

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)
How your wages are figured: Your average weekly wage is based on your earnings during the 26 weeks before the injury. Weeks you missed because of sickness or a work shutdown are left out, and if you got a higher regular wage during that time, only the higher wage counts. Wages from other insured jobs you had at the time of injury are added together. Report your dependents and lost wages from a second job on Form 10.
How long it can last: Payments continue while you are totally disabled. The insurer can stop them only by filing a properly supported Form 27 with you and the Department, for example when you return to work, are released to work, reach maximum medical improvement or do not cooperate. After 26 weeks of benefits, the weekly amount is adjusted each July 1 for cost of living.

Temporary total disability pays two-thirds of your average weekly wage, plus $20 a week for each dependent child under 21. Your total weekly wage benefit, including the child amounts, cannot be more than 90% of your average weekly wage. From July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027, the weekly maximum is $1,914 and the minimum is $638 (before the child amounts). The limits change every July 1.

Law: 21 V.S.A. §§ 601(18)-(19), 642, 643, 650

Source: labor.vermont.gov

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.

Benefit estimate calculator

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.

Sources

The official sources for Vermont are listed on the Vermont page.

National rules that may also matter

Taxes, Social Security, leave and the ADA

Taxes on workers' compensation Workers' compensation benefits for a work injury or illness are fully exempt from federal income tax when they are paid under a workers' compensation law. Pay you get for doing light-duty work is taxable as wages. If your workers' compensation reduces your Social Security benefits, that part may be taxable as Social Security benefits. Federal employees: FECA compensation is not taxable, but continuation of pay (up to 45 days) and sick leave pay while a claim is decided are taxed as wages.

Law: IRS Publication 525 (2025), Workers' Compensation; 26 U.S.C. 104(a)(1)

Social Security disability and workers' compensation If you get Social Security disability benefits and workers' compensation at the same time, Social Security may reduce its benefit. The reduction applies when your Social Security benefits (including benefits paid to your family on your record) plus your workers' compensation are more than 80% of your 'average current earnings', or more than your family's Social Security benefit before the reduction, if that is higher. A lump-sum workers' compensation settlement can also be counted. The reduction stops when you reach full retirement age. It does not apply when the state law paying your workers' compensation reduces that benefit instead for people on Social Security, if that state rule was in place on February 18, 1981.

Law: 42 U.S.C. 424a(a), (b), (d); SSA POMS DI 52101.001, DI 52105.001

Job-protected leave (FMLA) The Family and Medical Leave Act gives eligible employees up to 12 workweeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12-month period for a serious health condition, and keeps your group health coverage. It covers private employers with 50 or more employees in at least 20 workweeks of this year or last year, all public agencies, and public and private elementary and secondary schools. You are eligible if you worked there at least 12 months, worked at least 1,250 hours in the 12 months before the leave, and work at a site with at least 50 employees within 75 miles. Time off for a work injury can count as FMLA leave if your employer designates it. If your doctor clears you only for light duty, you may turn down a light-duty job and stay on unpaid FMLA leave until it runs out, but you may lose workers' compensation payments.

Law: 29 U.S.C. 2601 et seq.; 29 CFR 825.207(e); DOL Wage and Hour Division, Family and Medical Leave Act

Disability rights when you go back to work (ADA) Not every work injury is a 'disability' under the Americans with Disabilities Act. If yours is, an employer with 15 or more employees may have to make a reasonable accommodation, unless it would cause undue hardship, for example by moving minor (marginal) duties you cannot do to other workers or changing your schedule. The employer does not have to remove the essential functions of the job.

Law: 42 U.S.C. 12111(5)(A); EEOC Enforcement Guidance: Workers' Compensation and the ADA (Notice 915.002)

In these states, the state reduces some or all types of workers' compensation for people who also get Social Security disability, so Social Security does not reduce its benefit for those payments.

States that reduce workers' comp when you also get Social Security disability: Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Washington, Wisconsin.