Workers’ compensation in Florida promises a simple trade: you give notice, follow medical instructions, and in return the carrier pays medical bills and a portion of your lost wages. In practice, the wage part rarely feels simple. I spend a lot of time as a work injury lawyer untangling what counts as average weekly wage, when checks should start, and how partial disability interacts with overtime, tips, or second jobs. The rules are specific, the exceptions are real, and the carrier’s calculation is often off by enough to matter to your rent or car payment.
This guide walks through how lost wages are calculated in Florida comp cases, the types of checks you can expect, where disputes arise, and what you can do to protect your income. It reflects the law on the ground in Orlando and across Florida, not a general article written for another state. If you find yourself thinking, “That sounds like my situation,” it probably is. These are the patterns I see weekly.
The building block: your average weekly wage
Almost everything about lost wages in a Florida workers’ comp case starts with the average weekly wage, commonly called AWW. Think of AWW as the snapshot of your earnings before the injury, expressed as a weekly number. The weekly benefit rate, sometimes called compensation rate or CR, is usually two-thirds of your AWW, subject to a statewide cap that changes yearly. If your AWW is $900, your CR sits around $600. If your AWW is $1,800, your CR will bump into the statutory max.
How the AWW is set depends on your work history with that employer. Florida uses the 13 full weeks before your accident as the starting point. If you worked those 13 weeks, your employer and carrier must use your actual gross earnings for each week, not estimates. Those earnings include hourly wages, salary, overtime, bonuses actually paid, and tips that were reported. Divide the total by 13 to get the AWW.
If you did not work 13 full weeks at that job, the law allows alternatives. We can use a similar employee’s 13-week history if your job is comparable, or we can look at your actual earnings since you started if there is no fair comparison. There is judgment in that choice, and it is a place a workers compensation attorney often adds real value.
Two common mistakes with AWW lead to short checks. First, carriers sometimes ignore overtime or treat it as irregular, even when it was routine. If overtime was part of your normal job, it belongs in your AWW. Second, they miss additional income streams. If you had a second job at the time of injury and your main employer knew about it, those wages count toward AWW. That second job does not need to be similar, it just has to be concurrent and known. I have raised AWW by 20 to 40 percent for clients simply by documenting concurrent wages and overtime that were overlooked.
The waiting period and when checks start
Florida has a waiting period for wage benefits. You do not get paid for the first seven days of disability unless your disability lasts 21 days or more. If you reach day 21, those first seven days are retroactively paid. People often confuse this rule with a requirement to miss work for a full week before anything starts. That is not right. The carrier must still accept the claim, authorize care, and start tracking your disability status immediately. The first wage check usually lands two to three weeks after you go out, but it should reflect disability starting on day eight, or from day one if you ultimately cross the 21-day mark.
I have seen carriers slow-roll that first payment by waiting on a doctor’s narrative or arguing about restricted duty. If your authorized doctor takes you completely out of work, benefits should start. If your doctor gives restrictions and the employer cannot accommodate them, benefits should start. A prompt letter from a workers comp attorney that includes the work status note and a clear disability date often gets the check cycle moving.
The main types of wage benefits
Florida splits wage loss into distinct categories, each tied to your medical status. Understanding the labels helps you predict the check amount and your next steps.
Temporary Total Disability, or TTD, applies when you cannot work at all under your doctor’s restrictions. You receive roughly two-thirds of your AWW, capped by the statewide max. There is no offset for unemployment or for the employer’s inability to find work. The key is the medical note saying no work.
Temporary Partial Disability, or TPD, applies when you can work within restrictions but cannot earn your pre-injury wages. TPD is where math and documentation matter. The general idea is to make up part of the gap between what you used to earn and what you now earn, up to your CR. In a simple example, if your AWW is $900 and your CR is $600, and you manage to earn $450 in a week doing light duty or reduced hours, the carrier owes TPD that helps close the gap toward $600. TPD is not dollar-for-dollar, and the calculation uses a formula that considers 80 percent of your AWW as a ceiling for combined earnings plus benefits. The practical takeaway: the more you earn up to that ceiling, the smaller the TPD check. If you earn nothing while released to light duty because the employer has no suitable work, TPD often pays the same amount as TTD, subject to limits.
Impairment Income Benefits, or IIBs, kick in once you reach Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI). MMI means your healing Workers compensation attorney has plateaued; it does not mean you are back to normal. The authorized doctor assigns a permanent impairment rating, expressed as a percentage. The law converts that percentage into a set number of weeks of benefits, paid at a reduced rate that is lower than TTD/TPD. The IIB rate is typically 75 percent of your temporary compensation rate, and it can be reduced by up to 50 percent if you return to work earning the same or more than your pre-injury wage. The rating percentage drives the duration, not the amount per week.
Permanent Total Disability, or PTD, is rare but significant. If your injury and restrictions prevent you from any substantial gainful employment, you can receive ongoing wage benefits at your temporary rate, potentially to age 75. The medical and vocational thresholds for PTD are strict. Backed by experience, I can tell you the carrier will fight PTD harder than any other benefit because the financial exposure is long and large.
AWW details that change outcomes
Most disputes over lost wages involve the inputs, not the formula. The way your AWW is built can change your weekly checks and any settlement. These are the areas where a workers comp law firm typically helps:
- Overtime and shift differentials. If your schedule regularly included overtime, nights, or weekends with higher rates, those dollars belong in the 13-week average. Sporadic spikes like a one-off holiday bonus are less persuasive, but routine patterns count. Payroll records and time sheets usually settle this, not emails or memories. Concurrent employment. If you were working a second job when you got hurt and your primary employer knew, those wages blend into the AWW. If your employer did not know, the law is tougher, but there are ways to document constructive knowledge if schedules were shared or the side job was obvious, like wearing the uniform at your primary job right before heading to the second shift. Proof can add hundreds per week to your benefit. Intermittent weeks. The 13-week window requires full weeks worked. If you had a week with no earnings because of a layoff, unpaid leave, or a new hire gap, that week should not dilute your AWW. Substitute a prior full week or move to the similar employee method. Carriers sometimes average in zeros or partial weeks. That is wrong. Tips and commissions. Reported tips count. The carrier will look at what you reported for taxes, not cash in the apron. Commission-heavy roles can swing wildly week to week. In those cases, we may argue for a longer look-back or a similar employee for fairness. The statute allows common sense here when the standard 13-week snapshot does not reflect true earning capacity. Fringe benefits and per diem. Health insurance contributions and per diem travel stipends are not typically included in AWW. Employer-paid lodging is usually excluded as well. Before spending energy on fringe fights, check the case law and weigh the gain against the delay.
What if the employer offers light duty?
Light duty changes the analysis. If the authorized doctor releases you with restrictions and your employer offers work within those restrictions, you must attempt it. Refusing can cut off wage benefits. The offer has to be real, consistent with the restrictions, and reasonably close to your normal schedule. A 2-hour-a-day sweeping role 30 miles away at midnight for a day-shift cashier usually raises a red flag.
When light duty is accepted, your actual earnings matter. Keep copies of your time sheets and pay stubs. If the employer shortens your hours or reduces your hourly rate, that shortfall drives TPD. If you are sent home early because there is “nothing to do,” document the date and hours and notify the adjuster that you were willing to work but were sent home. The law rewards good-faith effort. A well-documented week with short pay is often the difference between a full TPD check and a denial.
How long do wage benefits last?
Temporary benefits, both TTD and TPD, run concurrently and have an overall cap measured in weeks. The exact cap has changed with legislative updates. As a practical matter, if your case stays in “temporary” status long enough, you will either reach MMI and move to impairment benefits or you will exhaust temporary weeks. Most injured workers who stay in care move to MMI within 6 to 18 months depending on the injury type. If you stop treating or miss appointments, the carrier can suspend benefits for noncompliance, which shortens your window in practice even if not on paper.
IIBs are limited by the impairment rating. A small rating, say 3 percent, translates into a relatively short period of payments. A double-digit rating yields more weeks. PTD, if awarded, can last to age 75, with certain exceptions for older workers at the time of injury.
Offsets, taxes, and other reductions
Workers’ compensation wage benefits are generally not taxable as income under federal and Florida law. That helps, since you are only receiving a portion of your wage. If you receive Social Security Disability Insurance at the same time, a complex offset calculation can reduce one or both benefits so the combined amount does not exceed a threshold. Unemployment benefits and comp benefits are usually incompatible; claiming you are able and available to work for unemployment while also claiming total disability in comp causes problems fast. If you are on TPD and actually working reduced hours, unemployment might still be in play, but this is a narrow lane where advice from an experienced workers compensation lawyer is essential.
Child support orders can garnish comp checks. The carrier will honor a valid income deduction order, and you will see the deduction on your benefit statement. Medical overpayments or advances can sometimes be recouped from later checks if you signed off on the advance.
When the calculation is wrong
If your check looks light, you are usually right. The fix follows a predictable path. First, request the AWW worksheet and the 13-week wage statement the employer provided. Cross-check week by week against pay stubs or payroll summaries. Look for missing overtime, excluded weeks, and arithmetic errors. Next, confirm the disability status used for each week: TTD versus TPD. If the carrier assumes you refused light duty when you were never offered any, that is grounds for a correction.
If you had a second job, gather W-2s or pay records and proof of employer knowledge. If your AWW changes, ask for retroactive adjustment. Carriers can issue a “correction check” for the difference going back to the proper start date. If they refuse, a workers comp attorney can file a petition and request penalties and interest for late or underpaid benefits. In Florida, late payments may carry statutory penalties after a grace period, plus interest. These add-ons are small individually but add up across several weeks.
Real-world examples from Orlando claims
A warehouse picker with six months on the job injured his knee. The carrier set AWW at $720 based on base hourly wages and no overtime. His manager confirmed by text he averaged 10 hours of overtime weekly, which appeared on his pay stubs. Recalculated AWW came to $930. His compensation rate rose by about $140 per week, and he received retro on eight weeks. He did not need a hearing; the records were clean, and a firm letter from a workers compensation attorney near me resolved it.
A server at a tourist corridor restaurant fractured her wrist. The employer gave her host shifts at minimum wage for limited hours. She also had a second job serving brunch on weekends, which she couldn’t do. The first employer knew about the brunch job because they coordinated schedules during peak season. Including the brunch wages increased her AWW by roughly 30 percent, and her TPD checks grew accordingly. Without the second-job documentation, she would have been stuck with low light-duty earnings and minimal TPD.
A roofer fell from a ladder and was taken completely off work. After five weeks on TTD, the carrier tried to switch him to TPD, citing unspecified light duty, but the employer had no work available inside his restrictions. With no formal offer letter and no job description, the switch failed, and TTD resumed. The delay cost two missed checks; penalties and interest were added after a petition.
Medical status drives everything
Wage benefits follow the doctor’s pen. An authorized provider controls your work status, and the status must be clear. If a note says “no lifting more than 10 pounds” and nothing else, the carrier can treat you as light duty released. If the note says “no work,” it supports TTD. Mixed notes cause delays. Always leave appointments with a written status, not a verbal comment. If the office prints a generic after-visit summary, ask for the specific work restrictions on the same page.
Your choice of doctor is limited in comp, but you have a one-time “change doctor” right. Use it strategically. If your current provider is inattentive to your job demands or writes vague restrictions, a change can protect your wage benefits. An experienced workers compensation lawyer will time that change to avoid gaps in care and maximize credibility.
What you owe the system, and what it owes you
You must report the injury promptly, cooperate with reasonable medical care, and keep the employer and carrier informed about work status. You must make a good-faith effort to perform bona fide light duty and to look for work within restrictions if you are released and not accommodated. On the other side, the carrier must pay authorized medical care, issue timely wage checks in the correct amount, and adjust benefits when circumstances change. When either side falls short, the law has levers to correct course.
Settlement and lost wages
Many injured workers eventually consider settlement. Lost wages play a central role in valuation. The driving questions include how long temporary benefits would likely continue, whether you have reached MMI, your impairment rating, your realistic earning capacity given permanent restrictions, and whether PTD is on the table. An accurate AWW anchors each of these. If your AWW is low in the claim file, settlement numbers will be low. I have renegotiated six-figure offers upward after documenting a corrected AWW with concurrent wages and overtime that were missing.
There is also timing. Settling while still on TTD or TPD terminates weekly checks in exchange for a lump sum. Make sure the amount covers future medical and the wage stream you are giving up. Once you sign, the weekly checks stop.
How a lawyer actually helps with wage loss
There is a perception that a workers compensation attorney simply files forms. The day-to-day work is more tactical:
- Reconstructing AWW from payroll data, including second jobs and overtime, and forcing corrections. Coordinating with clinics to secure clear work restrictions that either trigger TTD or support TPD. Pressing employers to put light duty offers in writing and rejecting sham assignments that do not match restrictions. Filing targeted petitions for underpayment with calculations that make it easy for a judge to award penalties and interest. Guarding against offsets and misclassifications that erode checks over time.
A good workers comp lawyer is part accountant, part translator, and part litigator. The best workers compensation lawyer for you is the one who shows their math, not just their marketing.
Practical steps you can take this week
Here is a short checklist that often fixes 80 percent of wage issues without a hearing:
- Gather your last 16 to 20 weeks of pay stubs from the employer where you were injured, plus any second job pay records. Ask the employer or carrier for the 13-week wage statement they used to calculate AWW and compare it line by line to your records. After every medical visit, insist on a written work status with specific restrictions and dates, and send a copy to the adjuster and your HR contact. If offered light duty, ask for the offer in writing with schedule, pay rate, and duties. If it conflicts with restrictions, respond in writing with the conflict highlighted. If checks are late or short, notify the adjuster in writing within 24 hours with the discrepancy and attach proof. If no correction in a week, call a workers compensation lawyer near me to seek penalties and interest.
Common myths that cost workers money
“I have to miss seven full days before I get paid.” Not quite. There is a seven-day waiting period, but if your disability lasts 21 days or more, you get paid for those first seven days retroactively.
“If I can do any work at all, I get nothing.” Not true. TPD exists to bridge the gap when you can work some, but not enough to match pre-injury earnings.
“Tips don’t count.” Reported tips do, and they should be included in your AWW.
“My employer says there is light duty, so I have to accept whatever they offer.” You have to accept suitable light duty within your restrictions. If the offer is outside your restrictions or is a bad-faith assignment, document it and push back.
“I can collect unemployment and comp at the same time.” Usually not. Unemployment requires you to be able and available for work; TTD says you cannot work. TPD with active job searches can be a narrow exception, but get advice before applying.
When to call counsel
If your checks are consistently late, your AWW seems low, your second job was ignored, you are being whipsawed between TTD and TPD without clear medical notes, or you suspect the employer’s light duty offer is a trap, it is time to involve an experienced workers compensation lawyer. A work accident attorney seasoned in Florida practice can fix routine issues quickly and identify the handful of cases where litigation or a settlement strategy makes more sense.
For many Orlando workers, the difference between a carrier’s first calculation and the right one is the difference between falling behind and keeping the lights on. You do not need a fight to get what the statute already promises. You need records, a clear understanding of the rules, and, when necessary, an advocate who knows which lever to pull.
If you are searching for a workers compensation attorney near me, look for someone who asks for your pay stubs before they talk settlement numbers, who explains TTD versus TPD in plain English, and who will pick up the phone when your Friday check does not arrive. That is how wage benefits stay on track in a Florida comp case.