Your employer or the insurer have an obligation to pay income benefits once you have lost 7 consecutive days of work and it does not include payment for those first 7 days, unless you are out of work for 21 or more consecutive days, in which case you are entitled to receive income benefits for those first 7 days. For example, if you are out of work due to your injury for 10 days, then you would be entitled to recover income benefits for three days of work lost (10 minus 7), not 10 days. However, if you are out of work for 21 or more consecutive days, then you are entitled to receive income benefits for every day, including the first seven days.
No, your income benefit is fixed as of the date of your injury and it is not increased or adjuster for inflation.
You are entitled to lost wages, or wage replacement, while you recuperate from your injuries. However, you do not recover all of your lost wages. By law, the employer or insurer is only obligated to pay you two thirds (2/3) of the your average weekly earnings for the 13 weeks prior to your injury. You must total the wages you earned during the 13 weeks before your injury (not counting the week when you were injured) and divide by 13. This gives you your average weekly wage (“AWW”). You then have to calculate 2/3 of your AWW and that yields your weekly income benefit or “comp rate.” However, the amount of weekly income benefit is capped based on the year in which an injury occurred. For any injury taking place on or after July 1, 2019, the maximum income benefit allowed is capped at $675 per week. In other words, if you were earning $1,000 per week before your injury, the most you can recover for an injury taking place after July 1, 2019 is $675 per week. This maximum amount has changed over the years and was less in preceding years. However, your weekly income benefit amount is fixed as of the date of your work injury; it does not go up as benefits are increased by law.