Georgia Workers Comp Settlement Calculator

Workers' Comp in Georgia at a Glance

Georgia's workers' compensation system is run by the State Board of Workers' Compensation (SBWC), the state agency that reviews claims, approves settlements, and sets the benefit rates used below (SBWC About Us). The system is governed by Title 34, Chapter 9 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated (O.C.G.A.), often just called "the Act."

Coverage is broad but not universal. The Act applies to employers, including public corporations and nonprofits, that regularly have three or more employees, whether full-time or part-time — count doesn't distinguish between the two (O.C.G.A. §34-9-2 (statute text via Justia); SBWC About Us). If you were hurt on the job in Georgia and your employer meets that threshold, you're almost certainly covered from your first day of work — there's no waiting period for eligibility, only a waiting period before wage checks start.

The SBWC has been around since 1920 and, by its own account, currently serves more than a quarter million Georgia employers and roughly 3.8 million workers (SBWC About Us). It's funded through assessments on insurers and self-insured employers, not general tax revenue, which is part of why claims move through an administrative Board process rather than straight into court.

Temporary Disability Benefits

If your injury keeps you out of work, Georgia pays temporary total disability (TTD) at two-thirds (66 2/3%) of your average weekly wage (AWW), subject to a state maximum and minimum (O.C.G.A. §34-9-261 (statute text via Justia)). For 2026 injuries, that maximum is $800 per week, and the minimum is $50 per week. Those figures took effect July 1, 2023, and the SBWC's most recent published summary (revised July 1, 2025) confirms no rate change since — so $800/$50 is still the operative cap for injuries happening now (SBWC Summary of Workers' Compensation Provisions).

There's also a temporary partial disability (TPD) benefit for workers who can do some work but earn less than before — it's capped separately at $533 per week (SBWC Summary of Provisions).

Your AWW itself is normally calculated by taking your total wages over the 13 weeks immediately before the injury and dividing by 13 — as long as you worked substantially the whole of that period for the same employer (O.C.G.A. §34-9-260 (statute text via Justia)). That 13-week average, not your most recent paycheck, is what feeds the two-thirds calculation above.

Waiting period. You don't get paid for the first 7 days you're out of work. If your disability lasts more than 21 consecutive days from the date of injury, though, that first week becomes payable retroactively — you're made whole for the whole period (SBWC Summary of Provisions).

How long it lasts. For most injuries, TTD is capped at 400 weeks from the date of injury — a little over 7.5 years (O.C.G.A. §34-9-261 (statute text via Justia)). That cap disappears entirely for injuries the SBWC classifies as catastrophic — things like spinal cord injuries with severe paralysis, amputation, severe traumatic brain injury, severe burns, total blindness, or any injury severe enough that it keeps you from doing your old job or any other work that exists in meaningful numbers in the national economy (O.C.G.A. §34-9-200.1 (statute text via Justia)). Catastrophic-injury TTD instead continues "until such time as the employee undergoes a change in condition for the better," with no fixed week count.

Permanent Partial Disability (PPD)

Georgia's PPD system is different from a lot of states in one important way: it uses a specific, named medical standard. Your treating doctor (or an independent medical examiner) rates the percentage of impairment to the injured body part using the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, 5th Edition — the statute names that exact edition, not a newer one (O.C.G.A. §34-9-263(d) (statute text via Justia)).

That impairment percentage is then applied to a fixed schedule of weeks set by statute for each body part. The math is: impairment % × scheduled weeks for that body part × your weekly compensation rate (66 2/3% of AWW, subject to the same $800 maximum used for TTD). The PPD calculator below runs this exact statutory method using the schedule below.

Importantly, PPD checks don't start immediately. Georgia law is explicit that PPD income benefits "shall not become payable so long as the employee is entitled to" TTD or TPD benefits for the same injury — so PPD is paid after your temporary benefits stop, not alongside them (O.C.G.A. §34-9-263(b) (statute text via Justia)).

Here's Georgia's statutory schedule for some of the most commonly rated body parts:

Source for the full schedule: O.C.G.A. §34-9-263 (statute text via Justia).

Permanent Total Disability

Georgia doesn't have a separate PPD-style schedule for "permanent total disability" — instead, certain severe losses trigger a legal presumption. The loss of both arms, hands, legs, or feet, any two or more of those, or permanent total loss of vision in both eyes creates a rebuttable presumption of permanent total disability, which is then compensated the same way as ongoing TTD, under O.C.G.A. §34-9-261, rather than under the PPD schedule (O.C.G.A. §34-9-263 (statute text via Justia)). In practice, most permanent-total situations in Georgia are handled through the catastrophic-injury classification described above, which removes the 400-week cap on weekly benefits.

How Settlements Work in Georgia

Georgia calls a workers' comp settlement a "stipulation and agreement" or, more commonly, just a settlement agreement. Whatever the injured worker and the employer/insurer agree to, it has to be written up and filed with the SBWC — and it is not binding on anyone until the Board approves it (O.C.G.A. §34-9-15 (statute text via Justia)). Once approved, the settlement becomes a final, enforceable disposition of the claims it covers, similar in effect to a judgment.

The SBWC's Settlement Division exists specifically to review these agreements for compliance before approval; it publishes guidance on the settlement approval process but is barred from telling either side what a claim is "worth" (SBWC Settlement Division). Settlements in Georgia commonly resolve future indemnity (wage-loss) benefits and can also close out future medical treatment for the claim, depending on what the parties agree to and the Board approves — but nothing is final until that Board sign-off happens.

Deadlines

Two different clocks matter in a Georgia workers' comp case, and missing either one can end your right to benefits:

• Notice to your employer: report the injury as soon as possible. Georgia's claim-filing deadlines run from either the date of injury or the date benefits/treatment stopped, so prompt reporting protects your position either way.
• Claim-filing deadline (statute of limitations): you generally must file a claim with the SBWC within one year of the injury. That window extends if the employer has been paying you: you get two years from the date of the last weekly benefit payment, or one year from the date of the last remedial (authorized) medical treatment furnished by the employer, whichever gives you more time (O.C.G.A. §34-9-82 (statute text via Justia)).

Medical Care

Georgia uses a panel of physicians system rather than free choice of any doctor. Your employer must post and maintain a list of at least six physicians or physician groups who are reasonably accessible to employees, and you choose your treating doctor from that posted list (O.C.G.A. §34-9-201 (statute text via Justia)). You're also allowed to make one change to a different doctor already on the same panel without needing the Board's permission — after that, further changes generally need approval.

A few built-in exceptions matter. In a genuine emergency, the panel-selection rule doesn't apply for as long as the emergency lasts — go get emergency care wherever you need to. The panel itself must include at least one orthopedic surgeon, and the Board is directed to encourage minority-physician participation on panels where feasible. And if your employer never actually posts a valid panel in the first place, you're not stuck: you're free to select any physician at the employer's expense (O.C.G.A. §34-9-201 (statute text via Justia)).

Worked Example (Hypothetical)

This is a simplified, hypothetical illustration to show how the pieces fit together — it is not a prediction of what any real claim is worth. A worker earns an average weekly wage (AWW) of $1,200. They're out of work for 10 weeks (TTD), then are found to have a 20% permanent impairment to the hand.

This is a rough estimate covering only these two benefit types — it doesn't include medical expenses, potential vocational or dependency benefits, or any settlement discount/negotiation that would actually apply in a real case. Use the calculator above with your own AWW, weeks out of work, and impairment rating to see your own numbers.