🩺 Workers' Comp & Disability Benefits: Claims and Payouts

A plain-language, worker-facing guide to the no-fault workers' compensation system and related disability benefits — from reporting an injury to computing your weekly checks, settlements, and Social Security disability. Learn the math so you can use the benefit calculators with confidence. The course is organized into 12 modules, ending with a final exam (pass mark 80%). It is independent, free exam-preparation training — not an official or accredited review course.

What you'll learn

• The No-Fault Bargain: What Workers' Comp Is
• Reporting the Injury and Filing Deadlines
• Medical-Only vs Indemnity Claims
• Average Weekly Wage: The Number Everything Rests On
• Computing Your Weekly Check: TTD, TPD and the Caps
• Impairment Ratings and Permanent Partial Disability
• Settlements: Lump-Sum vs Structured
• Medicare Set-Asides and Settlement Pitfalls
• Return to Work and Vocational Rehab
• Social Security Disability (SSDI): Eligibility and Estimate
• The Offset: Coordinating Comp and SSDI
• Putting It Together: Your Claim Action Plan

Learning objectives

• Explain how the no-fault workers' compensation bargain works and what it does — and does not — cover.
• Report a workplace injury correctly and meet the notice and filing-of-claim deadlines that protect your benefits.
• Distinguish medical-only from indemnity claims and identify which wage-replacement benefit (TTD, TPD, PPD, PTD) applies to your situation.
• Compute your average weekly wage (AWW) and your weekly benefit using the two-thirds rule plus state maximum and minimum caps.
• Read an impairment rating and translate a permanent partial disability rating into a dollar award using a scheduled-loss or whole-person method.
• Compare a lump-sum settlement against a structured settlement or annuity, accounting for present value, taxes, and Medicare set-asides.
• Evaluate Social Security Disability (SSDI) eligibility, estimate the benefit, and understand how it offsets with workers' comp.
• Use the workers' comp, SSDI, structured settlement, and annuity calculators to model real numbers for your own claim.