Kentucky workers' comp calculator

Benefits that end at seventy

Kentucky writes an age limit into the income benefit itself. Under KRS 342.730(4), all income benefits terminate on the date the employee reaches age 70, or four years after the injury or last exposure, whichever occurs last. A 68-year-old hurt in 2026 can therefore be paid for four years; a 45-year-old faces no age cutoff for decades. The same date governs benefits paid to a surviving spouse and dependents.

The 2026 benefit schedule from the Department of Workers' Claims (Education and Labor Cabinet) sets the weekly band for injuries between January 1, 2026 and the end of the year. The ceiling of $1,277.99 is reached at a gross weekly wage of about $1,917. A lineman averaging $2,300 a week would compute to $1,533 but receives $1,277.99. At the other end, a part-time cashier averaging $280 computes to $187 and is raised to the $232.36 floor, because Kentucky's minimum is a flat percentage of the state wage rather than the worker's own pay.

The seven-day rule and the fifteenth day

KRS 342.040 says no income benefit is due for the first 7 days unless disability continues more than two weeks. Payments must begin by the first regular payday after the seventh day, and in no event later than the fifteenth day after the employer knows of the disability. Our worker earning $1,050 who returns after ten days receives $300 for 3 paid days; had the absence stretched to six weeks, those first days would have been repaid and the total would be $4,200.

Late checks carry interest at 6% a year, and at 12% when an administrative law judge finds the delay or termination had no reasonable foundation.

How the permanent award grows with age and schooling

Once maximum medical improvement is reached, Kentucky converts the AMA impairment rating into a weekly benefit: 66.67% of the wage, times the rating, times a factor from a table in KRS 342.730(1)(b). In the statute’s terms, PPD = 66-2/3% of AWW (capped at 82.5% of the state AWW; $958.49 for 2026 injuries) x AMA impairment rating x a statutory factor (0.65 for 0-5% up to 1.70 for 36%+); tripled if the worker cannot return to the same type of work (cap 110% of state AWW). Paid for 425 weeks if the rating is 50% or less, 520 weeks if above 50% (KRS 342.730(1)(b)-(d)). No minimum weekly PPD benefit.

The multiplier then rises for workers who cannot return to their former type of work, and the statute adds age and education points: plus 0.6 at 60 or older, plus 0.4 at 55, plus 0.2 at 50, and up to plus 0.4 for less than eight years of school. A 61-year-old laborer with little formal education and a 10% rating can end up with a much larger weekly PPD check than a 35-year-old with the same rating, which is why the age on the date of injury matters so much in Kentucky claims.

The lump-sum death benefit and the dependents' maximums are listed on the same schedule. For a broader view of what each kind of benefit adds up to, read how much workers’ comp pays.