Michigan Workers Comp Settlement Calculator

Workers' Comp in Michigan at a Glance

Michigan's workers' compensation system is administered by the Workers' Disability Compensation Agency (WDCA), part of the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity (LEO). The underlying law is the Worker's Disability Compensation Act of 1969 (Act 317 of 1969, codified at MCL 418.101 et seq.), which replaced Michigan's original 1912 workers' comp law (WDCA overview).

Coverage isn't universal by headcount alone. Under Michigan's insurance rules, a private employer must carry workers' comp coverage if it regularly employs 1 or more workers 35+ hours a week for 13 or more weeks in the preceding 52 weeks, or regularly employs 3 or more workers at one time (part-time counted), agricultural employers with 3+ workers meeting the same 35-hour/13-week test, and household employers with a domestic worker on the same 35-hour/13-week schedule. All public employers must carry coverage regardless of size. Partners, corporate officers, and LLC manager-members count as employees for this test; sole proprietors working in their own business don't (LEO Workers' Disability Compensation Insurance Requirements).

Temporary Disability Benefits

Rate. Michigan doesn't pay a straight percentage of gross pay. The weekly benefit for total incapacity is 80% of the employee's after-tax average weekly wage (MCL 418.351(1), statute text via Justia: MCL 418.351). "After-tax" means the wage is first reduced for federal/state income tax and FICA withholding, based on the worker's filing status and number of dependents, before the 80% is applied. Michigan doesn't leave that conversion to guesswork — the WDCA publishes an annual rate book with tables that do the after-tax conversion and 80% calculation for you, indexed by gross wage, filing status, and dependents (2026 Rate Book, michigan.gov/LEO).

2026 max/min. For injuries in the 2026 benefit year (calendar year 2026), the maximum weekly rate is $1,201, tied to the 2026 state average weekly wage of $1,333.88. Michigan doesn't set a flat dollar minimum the way some states do; the "floor" is simply wherever the after-tax 80% calculation lands for very low earners (2026 Rate Book).

Waiting period. Michigan's WDCA materials direct an insurer to file the first report of injury "immediately upon the disability exceeding 7 consecutive days, death, or specific loss" — meaning wage-loss checks start once the disability passes the 7-day mark, with the norm being retroactive payment back to day one once disability continues beyond 14 days (WDCA, Michigan Workers' Disability Compensation Rights & Responsibilities).

Duration. There's no fixed number of weeks that cuts off temporary total disability (TTD) in Michigan. MCL 418.351(1) says compensation "shall be paid for the duration of the disability," and only caps a conclusive legal presumption of total-and-permanent disability at 800 weeks from the injury date — after 800 weeks, whether the worker is still totally disabled becomes a question of fact again rather than an automatic legal conclusion. That 800-week rule is not a benefit cutoff. The WDCA's own consumer publication confirms wage-loss benefits "continue so long as you are disabled, which could be for the rest of your life," though the amount can be reduced by up to 50% once the worker turns 65 and has been drawing benefits for at least 5 years (MCL 418.351 (statute text via Justia)).

Temporary partial disability. If a worker returns to lighter or part-time duty and earns less than before, Michigan pays a percentage of average weekly earnings equal to the proportionate loss of wage-earning capacity, under MCL 418.371(1). By statute, benefits plus actual post-injury earnings can't add up to more than the worker's pre-injury average weekly wage — the combination is capped there, not stacked on top of it (MCL 418.371 (statute text via Justia)).

Permanent Partial Disability

Michigan doesn't use the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment to set dollar values for lost body parts. Instead, MCL 418.361 lays out Michigan's own fixed schedule: a set number of compensation weeks is assigned by statute to each listed body part, paid at the same 80%-of-after-tax-AWW rate used for total incapacity, subject to the same statutory max/min. Loss of the first phalange (bone segment) of a thumb, finger, or toe counts as half that digit's scheduled weeks; losing more than the first phalange counts as loss of the whole digit (statute text via Justia: MCL 418.361).

A percentage loss of use of a scheduled member (rather than outright amputation) is prorated against that member's full scheduled weeks — a 20% loss of use of a hand, for example, is compensated as 20% of the hand's 215 scheduled weeks, at the applicable weekly rate.

Source: MCL 418.361 (statute text via Justia, MCL 418.361).

Permanent Total Disability

Michigan treats certain injuries as permanent and total by statutory definition rather than case-by-case argument: loss of both eyes, both legs or feet at or above the ankle, both arms or hands at or above the wrist, permanent and complete paralysis of both legs, both arms, or one leg and one arm, incurable insanity, imbecility caused by the injury, or any two of the losses listed elsewhere in the schedule (for example, one hand and one eye). These cases are compensated as total and permanent disability rather than under the specific-loss schedule for a single member (MCL 418.361, statute text via Justia, MCL 418.361).

How Settlements Work in Michigan

Michigan calls a workers' comp settlement a "redemption" — the parties agree to redeem (buy out) the employer's/carrier's entire liability for the injury with a lump-sum payment, instead of continuing weekly checks. Redemption isn't available until at least six months after the injury (MCL 418.835, statute text via Justia, MCL 418.835).

Every redemption agreement must be submitted to and approved (or rejected) by a workers' compensation magistrate — it isn't a private contract the parties can just sign and walk away with. Filing a redemption agreement is expressly not an admission of liability by the employer or carrier. If either side requests review by the WDCA director within 15 days after the magistrate's order is mailed or electronically distributed, the case goes to the director; if no one requests review within that 15-day window, the magistrate's order becomes final (MCL 418.835 and MCL 418.837, statute text via Justia: 418.835, 418.837).

A "full" redemption can close out both wage-loss and future medical benefits for the claim in exchange for the lump sum, since it redeems the employer's entire liability arising from the injury — that's a decision a magistrate reviews before approving, precisely because closing out future medical care is a permanent, one-way step for the worker.

A few procedural details are specific to Michigan's process: the carrier has to notify the employer in writing at least 10 business days before the redemption hearing, spelling out the proposed settlement amount and hearing details, and giving the employer a chance to object. Each party filing a redemption agreement pays a $100 filing fee. Separately, when a magistrate orders that already-awarded, still-running weekly payments be converted into one or more lump sums (rather than the parties negotiating a redemption by agreement), the conversion uses a 10%-per-year present-worth discount.

Deadlines

Notice to employer: an injured worker must give notice of the injury (oral or written) within 90 days after the injury happens, or within 90 days of when the worker knew or should have known about it. A late notice is excused unless the employer can show it was actually prejudiced by the delay (MCL 418.381(1), statute text via Justia, MCL 418.381).

Claim filing deadline: separately, a claim for compensation — made to the employer or filed with the agency — must happen within 2 years after the injury occurred, or the claim can't be maintained at all. Even within a timely-filed claim, back pay generally can't reach further than 2 years before the date the worker filed for a hearing (1 year for nursing/attendant-care claims specifically) (MCL 418.381(1)-(3), statute text via Justia, MCL 418.381).

Medical Care

For the first 28 days of treatment after a work injury, the employer (or its insurer) has the right to choose the treating physician. After that 28-day window, the injured worker can switch to a doctor of their own choosing simply by notifying the employer and carrier of the change — no permission needed. The employer or carrier can still ask a workers' compensation magistrate to order the worker to stop treating with their chosen doctor, but only after notice to all parties and a hearing, and only if they can show cause (MCL 418.315, statute text via Justia, MCL 418.315).

Employers must furnish all reasonable and necessary medical, surgical, hospital, and dental care, plus prosthetics, eyeglasses, and hearing aids needed because of the injury, for as long as the need connected to the injury continues. If the employer doesn't provide needed care, the worker can be reimbursed for reasonable expenses, or a magistrate can order direct payment to the provider.

Worked Example (Hypothetical Only)

This example is for illustration. It is not a prediction of what any real claim would pay. Facts: average weekly wage (AWW) of $1,200 before the injury; 10 weeks of temporary total disability; a 20% loss of use of one hand.

Michigan's rate is 80% of after-tax AWW, and that after-tax conversion runs through the WDCA's own rate-book tables (filing status and dependents affect the result), not a simple 80% of gross pay. For this illustration we'll use an assumed, clearly-labeled weekly rate of $700 — a plausible after-tax-adjusted figure for a $1,200 gross AWW, not a number we calculated ourselves. That figure is comfortably under the 2026 maximum of $1,201, so the statutory cap doesn't come into play here.

Again: this is a simplified hypothetical using a labeled assumed rate, not a computed after-tax figure, an actual WDCA rate-book lookup, or a real adjudicated claim. Real Michigan cases turn on the worker's actual after-tax rate from the current rate book, medical evidence of the percentage of loss, whether TTD and specific-loss periods overlap or run consecutively, and whether a redemption resolves the whole claim for a different lump sum than a week-by-week total would suggest.