How North Carolina calculates your weekly check
While your doctor keeps you off work, North Carolina pays temporary total disability (TTD) benefits of 66 2/3% of your average weekly wage. The result is limited to a weekly maximum and minimum that North Carolina resets on a fixed schedule. Your limits are the ones in effect on your date of injury.
- Maximum: $1,446.00 a week (injuries from January 1 to December 31, 2026).
- Minimum: $30.00 a week.
- Previous maximum: $1,380.00 for 2025 injuries.
- When the cap applies: an average weekly wage above $2,169.00 reaches the maximum.
The maximum is set by the year of injury and stays the same for the life of the claim.
| Average weekly wage | Weekly benefit | Share of wage | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| $600 | $400.00 | 67% | Standard rate |
| $1,000 | $666.67 | 67% | Standard rate |
| $1,500 | $1,000.00 | 67% | Standard rate |
| $2,200 | $1,446.00 | 66% | Capped at maximum |
Waiting period
No pay for the first 7 days. If disability lasts more than 21 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 500 weeks from the first date of disability. Extended benefits after 425 weeks are possible only with proof of total loss of wage-earning capacity.
Permanent disability and settlements
Under G.S. 97-31, a rating for a scheduled body part is paid at 66 2/3% of your wage for the rating percentage times the weeks for that part. The back is scheduled at 300 weeks. Payments use the same weekly maximum and minimum as temporary benefits.
A loss of use of the back of 75% or more is treated as total industrial disability.
Loss of 85% or more of vision in one eye counts as total loss of that eye.
Example: A 10% rating of the hand is 20 weeks. At a $1,000 weekly wage the rate is $666.67 a week, for a statutory value of about $13,333.
| Body part | Weeks | Example value |
|---|---|---|
| Arm | 240 | $16,000 (10%) |
| Hand | 200 | $13,333 (10%) |
| Thumb | 75 | $5,000 (10%) |
| Index finger | 45 | $3,000 (10%) |
| Second finger | 40 | $2,667 (10%) |
| Third finger | 25 | $1,667 (10%) |
| Fourth (little) finger | 20 | $1,333 (10%) |
| Leg | 200 | $13,333 (10%) |
| Foot | 144 | $9,600 (10%) |
| Great toe | 35 | $2,333 (10%) |
| Other toe | 10 | $667 (10%) |
| Eye | 120 | $8,000 (10%) |
| Hearing, one ear | 70 | $4,667 (10%) |
| Hearing, both ears | 150 | $10,000 (10%) |
| Back | 300 | $20,000 (10%) |