How much is my workplace injury claim worth?

Construction injury benchmark (third-party pool)

Workers' comp benefit components

• Medical: 100 percent of related treatment, generally without copay or deductible.
• Temporary total disability (TTD): typically 66.67 percent of average weekly wage during recovery, capped at state maximum.
• Permanent partial disability (PPD): impairment rating × scheduled weeks × wage rate. Schedule varies dramatically by state and body part.
• Permanent total disability (PTD): ongoing wage replacement for life or to retirement, depending on state.
• Vocational rehabilitation: retraining benefits in about 25 states.
• Death benefits: wage-based payments to dependents, typically for a fixed term or until remarriage.

Third-party tort bands

• Soft tissue, full recovery: $25,000–$150,000.
• Single surgical fracture: $150,000–$500,000.
• Multi-system, surgical, lost wages: $500,000–$2.5M.
• TBI or spinal cord: $2M–$10M+, life-care plan dependent.
• Wrongful death (construction): $1M–$10M, multi-defendant pools.

The WC lien math

From any third-party recovery, the WC carrier's lien is paid (typically reduced by 1/3 to 40 percent for attorney's fees and recovery costs). The net to the injured worker is therefore: gross settlement, minus attorney's fees (33–40 percent), minus case costs, minus reduced WC lien, minus any medical liens not covered by WC. Practical net recovery typically runs 35–55 percent of gross third-party settlement.

What caps the number

• Total third-party coverage across all named defendants.
• Comparative-fault allocation in modified comparative-fault states (some states bar recovery if worker is more than 50 percent at fault).
• OSHA-violation evidence — strengthens negligence per se theories but does not, by itself, defeat exclusive-remedy as to the employer.
• State statutory caps on non-economic damages in some jurisdictions.