What it means for you
New York raised its minimum weekly workers' comp benefit to $275 for 2024 injuries and $325 for injuries from January 2025 through June 2026. For July 2026–June 2027 injuries, it is $384.45 or actual wages if lower; older claims keep their injury-date rate.
Who benefits: New York workers whose job injury or occupational disease is dated on or after January 1, 2024 and whose temporary or permanent disability benefit would otherwise fall below the new minimum.
If a job injury or occupational disease causes lost wages or reduced earning capacity, New York workers’ comp may pay weekly disability benefits. For an injury or disablement dated July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027, the minimum is $384.45. Workers whose weekly wage was lower receive that wage instead. The minimum is part of a qualifying claim; workers still must file the claim itself.
The law raised the minimum to $275 for 2024 dates and $325 for dates from January 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026. For new dates each July 1 beginning in 2026, the minimum is one-fifth of the state average weekly wage. A worker’s rate is fixed by the injury or disablement date, so later annual increases do not raise an older claim. Employers fund workers’ compensation coverage, and workers cannot be charged for it.
Sen. James Sanders Jr. first introduced the indexing plan in 2018. He sponsored the 2023 Senate bill, and Assemblymember Latoya Joyner carried the Assembly version after they carried a version that passed both chambers and was vetoed by Gov. Kathy Hochul in 2022. The Senate approved the new bill 49–12: all 40 voting Democrats and nine Republicans supported it, while 12 Republicans opposed it. The Assembly passed it 98–40 on June 10, 2023, and Hochul signed it on September 6.
Work and wagesLower costsSafety
Sources
- S1161A, relates to the schedule of compensation in case of disabilityNew York State Senate
- S1161-A bill status, Assembly vote, and textNew York State Assembly
- Governor Hochul signs legislation to support workers by protecting employees from mandatory political and religious meetings, strengthening wage theft penalties, and increasing benefits for injured workersOffice of the Governor of New York, September 6, 2023
- Subject Number 046-1649, increase to the minimum weekly benefitNew York State Workers' Compensation Board, December 20, 2023
- Subject Number 046-1805, maximum and minimum weekly benefit rates effective July 1, 2026New York State Workers' Compensation Board, April 16, 2026
- Your employer's rights and responsibilitiesNew York State Workers' Compensation Board
- S8563, relates to the schedule in case of disabilityNew York State Senate
How we checked this
Drafted by Claude Opus 5.5 (Anthropic) on November 12, 2026. Checked against its sources by GPT-5.6-sol (OpenAI) on November 12, 2026, which corrected it. Confirmed the law, sponsors, both final-passage votes, current $384.45 rate, funding, and in-effect status. Corrected the headline and explanation to make clear that actual wages can be lower and that each claim keeps its injury-date rate.
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