Minnesota Workers Comp Settlement Calculator

Workers' Comp in Minnesota at a Glance

Minnesota's workers' compensation system is administered by the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry (DLI), under Minnesota Statutes Chapter 176. Disputed claims are heard by workers' compensation judges at the Office of Administrative Hearings, with appeals going to the Workers' Compensation Court of Appeals under Minn. Stat. ch. 175A.

Most Minnesota employers must carry workers' compensation insurance or qualify as self-insured. A handful of narrow categories are exempt under Minn. Stat. §176.041, including a farmer's spouse, parent, or child working on the family farm; sole proprietors, partners, and certain closely held corporate officers or LLC managers with limited payroll hours and 25%+ ownership; statutory independent contractors; household workers earning under $1,000 in cash per three months from one home; and casual employment outside the usual course of a business. Everyone else working for a covered employer is generally entitled to benefits from the date of injury, regardless of fault.

Temporary Disability Benefits

Rate. Temporary total disability (TTD) is paid at 66 2/3% of the worker's average weekly wage (AWW) at the time of injury, subject to the statewide maximum and minimum. Source: Minn. Stat. §176.101, subd. 1.

2026 maximum and minimum. For injuries occurring October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026, the maximum weekly benefit is $1,536.84 and the minimum is $307.37. For injuries occurring on or after October 1, 2026, the maximum rises to $1,594.08 (set at 108% of the statewide average weekly wage of $1,476) and the minimum to $318.82. These figures adjust every October 1 and should be re-checked against DLI's rate page for injuries near that date. Source: DLI SAWW/rate information page and DLI annual adjustment chart.

Duration. TTD stops entirely once 130 weeks of TTD compensation have been paid, counting initial and any recommenced TTD together — it doesn't matter how much time has elapsed since the injury, only how many weeks of TTD checks have gone out. The one exception: weeks paid while the employee is in a DLI-approved retraining plan don't count against the 130-week limit. This is a hard cap, not a "until you recover" open-ended benefit like some states use. Source: Minn. Stat. §176.101, subd. 1(k).

Waiting period. No TTD or TPD is paid for the first three calendar days of disability, unless the disability continues for 10 calendar days or longer, in which case those three days are paid retroactively from the start of the disability. Source: Minn. Stat. §176.121.

Temporary partial disability (TPD). If an injured worker returns to lighter or lower-paying work before reaching maximum medical improvement, Minnesota pays TPD at 66 2/3% of the difference between the pre-injury wage and what the worker is now able to earn, capped at the TTD maximum rate. TPD can run for up to 275 weeks, or 450 weeks after the date of injury, whichever comes first (longer if the worker is in approved retraining). Source: Minn. Stat. §176.101, subd. 2.

Permanent Partial Disability

Minnesota does not use a "weeks per body part" schedule the way many states do. Instead, a physician rates the worker's permanent impairment as a percentage of the whole body, following the state's own impairment tables in Minnesota Rules Chapter 5223 — not the AMA Guides. That whole-body percentage is then multiplied by a flat dollar amount tied to the impairment band it falls into, producing a lump-sum PPD award. An employee can't be compensated for more than 100% whole-body disability even with injuries to multiple body parts. Source: Minn. Stat. §176.101, subd. 2a.

PPD is paid only after TTD ends — the statute is explicit that "permanent partial disability is not payable while temporary total compensation is being paid." If a worker asks for a lump-sum payout, the insurer must pay it within 30 days (and may discount it to present value at up to 5%); otherwise it's paid in installments at the worker's TTD rate as of the injury date. Source: Minn. Stat. §176.101, subd. 2a(c).

There are two dollar tables in effect in 2026, split by injury date:

Table A — injuries on or after October 1, 2023 and before October 1, 2026 (first four bands of twenty):

Table B — injuries on or after October 1, 2026 (same first four bands, enacted by 2026 Minn. Laws ch. 103, §10):

Both tables run up through the 95.5%–100% band ($567,840 under Table A, $682,045 under Table B). Sources: Minn. Stat. §176.101, subd. 2a (Table A, current text); 2026 Minn. Laws ch. 103, §10 (Table B and its effective date). Every even-numbered year, including 2026, the legislature's Workers' Compensation Advisory Council is required to reconsider whether the table provides adequate compensation, so expect another revision cycle in 2028.

The PPD calculator below uses these two tables directly — enter the whole-body impairment percentage and injury date, and it applies the correct band and dollar figure.

Permanent Total Disability

Permanent total disability (PTD) is paid at 66 2/3% of the worker's daily wage at the time of injury, subject to the same maximum as TTD and a minimum of 65% of the statewide average weekly wage. After $25,000 in PTD compensation has been paid, the benefit is offset by certain concurrent government disability benefits tied to the same injury. PTD generally continues until age 72, or for five years if the worker was already over 67 at the time of injury. Source: Minn. Stat. §176.101, subd. 4.

How Settlements Work in Minnesota

Minnesota workers' comp claims are resolved through a Stipulation for Settlement — the official name for a negotiated settlement agreement between the employee, employer, and insurer. Once the parties reach terms, the stipulation must be filed with the Office of Administrative Hearings within 45 days of the agreement; a Workers' Compensation Judge reviews the document and must approve it before it's binding. If the parties notify the court of a settlement but don't file the stipulation in time without good cause shown, the judge can put the case back on the trial calendar or dismiss it. Source: Office of Administrative Hearings, Workers' Compensation General Proceedings Guide.

Settlements are commonly structured as "full, final, and complete," closing out future indemnity and, often, future medical benefits for the accepted injury in exchange for a lump sum. The exact scope of what's closed out is negotiated case by case and spelled out in the stipulation itself.

Deadlines

Notice to employer. An injured worker (or someone on their behalf) must give the employer notice within 14 days of the injury, or compensation isn't due until notice is given or the employer already has actual knowledge of the injury. Notice within 30 days cures most minor defects. After 180 days without notice or actual knowledge, compensation is generally barred, subject to limited exceptions for mistake, inadvertence, or inability to give notice. Source: Minn. Stat. §176.141.

Claim filing deadline. A workers' comp claim generally must be commenced within three years after a written report of the injury is filed with DLI, and in any event no later than six years from the date of the accident. Occupational disease claims run three years from when the employee knew the disease was caused by work. If the injured worker is physically or mentally incapacitated (not counting minority), the three-year window is extended by an additional three years from when the incapacity ends. Source: Minn. Stat. §176.151.

Medical Care

Minnesota generally lets an injured employee choose their own treating health care provider. That default narrows in a few situations: the employer may require treatment through a DLI-certified managed care plan under Minn. Stat. §176.1351; an employer party to a qualifying collective bargaining agreement may restrict treatment to an approved provider list; and pharmacy purchases can be limited to a pharmacy near the employee's home. Under a certified managed care plan, the worker must generally use in-network providers, with exceptions for emergencies, adjuster-approved out-of-network care, an existing relationship with a provider seen at least twice in the prior two years, living or working beyond 30 miles (Twin Cities) or 50 miles (Greater Minnesota) from network providers, and a few other statutory carve-outs.

Disputes over a requested change of doctor, chiropractor, or podiatrist are resolved under standards DLI has adopted by rule, and any medical expenses tied to an agreed or ordered change are paid by the employer on the same terms as other authorized treatment. Source: Minn. Stat. §176.135, subd. 2.

Worked Example (Hypothetical)

This example is for illustration only — it is not a prediction of what any real claim is worth, and it does not reflect every offset, dependent adjustment, or attorney's fee that could apply to an actual case. Facts: average weekly wage of $1,200. Injury occurs before October 1, 2026. Worker draws 10 weeks of temporary total disability, then is rated with a 10% whole-body permanent partial impairment.

This is a simplified estimate of two benefit types only. It doesn't include medical bills, mileage reimbursement, permanent total disability, vocational rehabilitation, dependent benefits, or any settlement discount/present-value adjustment — and it assumes the 10% rating and $1,200 wage are exactly as stated, which a real case would need a physician's rating and payroll records to establish.