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

Time-loss pays a percentage of your gross monthly wages that depends on your family. Pay is up to $9,981 a month (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 Washington

Maximum

$9,981 a month (July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027)

Minimum

$1,247.63 a month (July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027)

Minimum rule

The minimum is 15% of the state's average monthly wage, plus $10 a month for a spouse or registered domestic partner and $10 for each dependent child (up to 5; for single workers up to 6). If that minimum would be more than your full wages, you receive the greater of your monthly wages or the minimum that applied on June 30, 2008.

Law: $1,247.63 a month for injuries from July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027

Applies to

Maximum: time-loss paid from July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027 (all injuries on or after July 1, 1996); minimum: injuries from July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027

How your wages are figured

Your monthly wages from all jobs at the time of injury are used, before taxes. If you are paid by the day or hour, your daily wage is multiplied by a set number of days based on how many days a week you normally work (for example, 22 for a 5-day week). Wages include tips reported to your employer, the value of board, housing or fuel, your employer's health care contributions (if they stop), and bonuses in the past 12 months. Overtime counts only for seasonal, part-time or intermittent work, when wages from the 12 months before the injury are averaged.

How long it can last

Time-loss is paid as long as your health care provider certifies that your condition keeps you from working.

Time-loss pays a percentage of your gross monthly wages that depends on your family. For injuries on or after July 1, 2026: 60% if you are unmarried with no children; 65% if unmarried with one child or married with no children; then 2 more percentage points for each additional child, up to 75%. For injuries before July 1, 2026, the older schedule applies (married 65%, unmarried 60%, plus 2% per child, up to 75% married or 70% unmarried). The maximum is 120% of the state's average monthly wage: $9,981.00 a month from July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027. Rates are set every July 1.

Law: RCW 51.32.060(1)-(2), (6), 51.32.090(1), (9), 51.08.178

Source: app.leg.wa.gov

Changes in 2024–2026

2024 c 144 (effective July 1, 2025) shortened the period after which the 3 waiting days are paid back from 14 to 7 consecutive days of disability. 2025 c 168 (effective July 1, 2026) set a new time-loss and pension percentage schedule for injuries on or after July 1, 2026 that treats a spouse the same as one child (60% to 75%) and pays 2% of wages to the person with legal custody of a worker's child. From July 1, 2026 the monthly maximum is $9,981.00 and the minimum 15% figure is $1,247.63 (L&I Self-Insurance bulletin, June 26, 2026).

Law: RCW 51.32.090(7); RCW 51.32.010, 51.32.060

Benefit estimate calculator

We do not offer a calculator for Washington: its rule has parts that a simple estimate cannot show. Read the rule above and ask the state agency.

Sources

The official sources for Washington are listed on the Washington 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.