How New Jersey calculates your weekly check
While your doctor keeps you off work, New Jersey pays temporary total disability (TTD) benefits of 70% of your average weekly wage. The result is limited to a weekly maximum and minimum that New Jersey resets on a fixed schedule. Your limits are the ones in effect on your date of injury.
- Maximum: $1,199.00 a week (injuries from January 1 to December 31, 2026).
- Minimum: $320.00 a week.
- Previous maximum: $1,159.00 for 2025 injuries.
- When the cap applies: an average weekly wage above $1,712.86 reaches the maximum.
The maximum is 75% and the minimum 20% of the statewide average weekly wage, which is $1,598.66 for 2026 rates. The limits in effect on your date of injury apply to the whole claim.
| Average weekly wage | Weekly benefit | Share of wage | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| $600 | $420.00 | 70% | Standard rate |
| $1,000 | $700.00 | 70% | Standard rate |
| $1,500 | $1,050.00 | 70% | Standard rate |
| $2,200 | $1,199.00 | 55% | Capped at maximum |
Waiting period
No pay for the first 7 days, which need not be in a row. If disability lasts more than 7 days, those days are paid back. The waiting period applies to wage benefits only; medical treatment is covered from the first day.
How long benefits last
Up to 400 weeks. Benefits usually end sooner, when you return to work or reach maximum medical improvement.
Permanent disability and settlements
Permanent partial disability under N.J.S.A. 34:15-12(c) is paid at 70% of your wage for the rating percentage times the weeks for the body part, or times 600 weeks for the back and other injuries off the schedule. The weekly rate is capped by the size of the award: small awards are capped at 20% of the statewide average weekly wage ($320 in 2026), rising in steps to 75% ($1,199) for awards over 420 weeks.
Awards of 97 to 180 weeks are paid in steps: the first 96 weeks at the 21% cap, then each further 6 weeks at one percentage point more. The calculator applies these steps and shows the average weekly rate.
If the loss of a hand or foot is 25% or more, the schedule uses 300 weeks for the hand and 285 for the foot. Amputations receive an extra 30%.
Example: A 10% rating of the body as a whole is 60 weeks. At a $1,000 weekly wage the rate is $320.00 a week, for a statutory value of about $19,200.
| Body part | Weeks | Example value |
|---|---|---|
| Body as a whole (back, neck and other injuries off the schedule) | 600 | $19,200 (10%) |
| Arm | 330 | $10,560 (10%) |
| Hand (300 weeks if the loss is 25% or more) | 260 | $8,320 (10%) |
| Thumb | 80 | $2,560 (10%) |
| First (index) finger | 60 | $1,920 (10%) |
| Second finger | 50 | $1,600 (10%) |
| Third finger | 40 | $1,280 (10%) |
| Fourth (little) finger | 30 | $960 (10%) |
| Leg | 315 | $10,080 (10%) |
| Foot (285 weeks if the loss is 25% or more) | 250 | $8,000 (10%) |
| Great toe | 40 | $1,280 (10%) |
| Each other toe | 15 | $480 (10%) |
| Eye (vision) | 200 | $6,400 (10%) |
| Hearing, one ear | 60 | $1,920 (10%) |
| Hearing, both ears | 200 | $6,400 (10%) |