How Pennsylvania calculates your weekly check
While your doctor keeps you off work, Pennsylvania pays temporary total disability (TTD) benefits of 66 2/3% of your wage (90% or a flat $697 for lower earners). The result is limited to a weekly maximum that Pennsylvania resets on a fixed schedule. Your limits are the ones in effect on your date of injury.
- Maximum: $1,394.00 a week (injuries from January 1 to December 31, 2026).
- Previous maximum: $1,347.00 for 2025 injuries.
For 2026 injuries: weekly wage of $774.43 or less is paid 90% of wage; $774.44 to $1,045.50 is paid a flat $697.00; $1,045.51 to $2,091.00 is paid 66 2/3%; above $2,091.00 is paid the $1,394.00 maximum.
| Average weekly wage | Weekly benefit | Share of wage | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| $600 | $540.00 | 90% | Raised to minimum or flat rate |
| $1,000 | $697.00 | 70% | Raised to minimum or flat rate |
| $1,500 | $1,000.00 | 67% | Standard rate |
| $2,200 | $1,394.00 | 63% | Capped at maximum |
Waiting period
No pay for the first 7 days. If disability lasts 14 days or more, 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
Paid while you are totally disabled. After 104 weeks the insurer can request an impairment rating evaluation; a whole-body rating below 35% converts you to partial disability, which is limited to 500 weeks.
Permanent disability and settlements
Pennsylvania pays "specific loss" benefits for the permanent loss, or permanent loss of use for all practical intents, of a listed body part: 66 2/3% of your wage for the weeks in Section 306(c), plus a healing period. Partial loss of use of a hand or leg does not qualify; hearing loss is paid as a percentage of 260 weeks (both ears) or 60 weeks (one ear, from trauma).
Specific loss payments are at least 50% of the statewide average weekly wage ($697.00 for 2026) and no more than the maximum.
Binaural hearing impairment of 10% or less is not compensable.
Example: Loss of the hand is 335 weeks. At a $1,000 weekly wage the rate is $697.00 a week, for a statutory value of about $233,495.
| Body part | Weeks | Example value |
|---|---|---|
| Arm | 410 | $285,770 (total loss) |
| Forearm | 370 | $257,890 (total loss) |
| Hand | 335 | $233,495 (total loss) |
| Thumb | 100 | $69,700 (total loss) |
| First (index) finger | 50 | $34,850 (total loss) |
| Second finger | 40 | $27,880 (total loss) |
| Third finger | 30 | $20,910 (total loss) |
| Fourth (little) finger | 28 | $19,516 (total loss) |
| Leg | 410 | $285,770 (total loss) |
| Lower leg | 350 | $243,950 (total loss) |
| Foot | 250 | $174,250 (total loss) |
| Great toe | 40 | $27,880 (total loss) |
| Any other toe | 16 | $11,152 (total loss) |
| Eye | 275 | $191,675 (total loss) |
| Hearing, both ears (percentage of 260 weeks) | 260 | $18,122 (10%) |
| Hearing, one ear from trauma (percentage of 60 weeks) | 60 | $4,182 (10%) |