How Long Does Workers’ Comp Last in Virginia?

Nothing in this article should be taken as legal advice. Every case is different.

In Virginia, workers’ comp wage benefits for one injury are generally capped at 500 weeks, a little under ten years (Va. Code § 65.2-518). Medical care has no set number of weeks: the employer must provide necessary medical care for as long as it is necessary after the accident (Va. Code § 65.2-603). The most serious injuries, those the law defines as permanent and total incapacity, are paid for life (Va. Code § 65.2-500).

Often, something else ends a benefit long before that: going back to work, a doctor’s release, a refused job offer, a settlement, or the insurance company asking the Commission to stop the checks. Each benefit has its own clock, and the rules for one affect the others.

This article is about how long each benefit lasts. For the deadlines to file a claim and to reopen one, here’s how long a workers’ comp claim can stay open.

How Long Does Each Workers’ Comp Benefit Last?

Any benefit that is still open also ends with a full and final settlement, which the Commission must approve (Va. Code § 65.2-701).

What Is the 500-Week Limit?

Virginia caps the total compensation payable for an injury at 500 weeks, and at 500 times the statewide average weekly wage for that year (Va. Code § 65.2-518). Weeks of total disability, partial disability, and permanent partial disability all draw from that same limit.

The law makes a few exceptions: permanent and total incapacity as defined in § 65.2-503(C), and certain coal workers’ pneumoconiosis claims. Everyone else runs into the 500-week ceiling eventually, even someone who can never work again, if the injury doesn’t fit one of those definitions.

How Long Do Wage Checks Last While You Can’t Work?

Temporary total disability checks last as long as the injury keeps you from working at all, up to the 500-week limit (Va. Code § 65.2-500). They pay two-thirds of your average weekly wage, up to a weekly maximum. For injuries on or after July 1, 2026, that maximum is $1,507.01 a week (Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission). Here’s how benefits are calculated.

The checks usually stop for one of these reasons, not because the weeks ran out:

• You go back to work.
• Your doctor releases you to work. Total disability checks are paid only while you are totally unable to work, so a full-duty release gives the insurance company grounds to ask the Commission to end them. A light-duty release can lead to partial checks instead.
• You refuse suitable work without a good reason. If the employer offers, or finds you, a job within your restrictions and you turn it down, your wage checks stop for as long as the refusal lasts, unless the Commission finds the refusal was justified. Medical care and permanent partial disability benefits continue. You generally have six months to fix the refusal by accepting suitable work (Va. Code § 65.2-510).
• You refuse medical treatment or vocational rehabilitation the employer provides, without a good reason. Compensation stops until the refusal ends (Va. Code § 65.2-603(B)).

Can the Insurance Company Just Stop Paying?

Once you have an award, the insurance company can’t end your checks on its own say-so. To stop or reduce them, it has to file a written application with the Commission, under oath, stating its grounds and the last date it paid (Va. Code § 65.2-708; 16VAC30-50-20(D)). You then have up to 15 days from the date it was filed to send the Commission evidence against it (16VAC30-50-20(E)). If the Commission rejects the application, compensation is reinstated immediately. If it accepts it, the dispute goes to the Commission’s alternative dispute resolution process, a decision on the written record, or a hearing.

That 15-day window is easy to miss, because it runs from the filing date, not the day the application reaches your mailbox. The insurer must send you its supporting documents, such as a doctor’s note or a job offer, and answering them often takes medical evidence you have to get in front of the Commission quickly.

How Long Do Partial Wage Checks Last on Light Duty?

Temporary partial disability checks last as long as your injury keeps you earning less than you did before, within the same 500-week limit (Va. Code § 65.2-502). They pay two-thirds of the difference between your old average weekly wage and what you can earn now.

Two rules shorten that clock. Weeks of total disability you were already paid come off the maximum period for partial disability (§ 65.2-502). And in any week you receive permanent partial disability and partial disability checks at the same time, that week counts as two weeks against the 500 (Va. Code § 65.2-503(E)).

How Long Do Permanent Partial Disability Benefits Last?

Permanent partial disability pays a set number of weeks for a permanent loss of use of certain body parts, set by Virginia’s schedule (Va. Code § 65.2-503). These benefits are paid after your temporary total disability checks end.

For a partial loss of use, compensation may be awarded in proportion to the rating a doctor gives once you reach maximum medical improvement. A 20 percent loss of use of a leg works out to 20 percent of 175 weeks, or 35 weeks of pay at your compensation rate. A few percentage points on a rating can mean weeks of benefits, which is why the insurance company often sends injured workers to its own doctor for a second rating.

The back and neck are not on the schedule. A spine injury can still lead to these benefits if it causes a permanent loss of use of an arm or leg.

When Does Workers’ Comp Last for Life?

Wage benefits last for life only for permanent and total incapacity as Virginia law defines it (Va. Code § 65.2-503(C)):

• Loss, or loss of use, of both hands, both arms, both feet, both legs, both eyes, or any two of them, from the same accident or a compensable consequence of it
• An injury that results in total paralysis for all practical purposes, as the Commission decides from the medical evidence
• A brain injury so severe that the worker is permanently unemployable in gainful employment

In those cases, the weekly checks continue for the worker’s lifetime with no limit on the total amount (Va. Code § 65.2-500(D)). Proving that an injury fits one of these definitions is often the whole fight, because the difference is between a limit of 500 weeks and payments for life.

How Long Does Workers’ Comp Pay for Medical Treatment?

Virginia law requires the employer to provide necessary medical care “as long as necessary after an accident,” with no set number of weeks (Va. Code § 65.2-603). The 500-week limit applies to compensation, not medical care, and the Court of Appeals of Virginia has said these medical benefits “can last for a lifetime” (Prophet v. Bullock Corp., 2011).

The insurance company is required to pay for treatment that is reasonable, necessary, and causally related to the accident. That doesn’t mean it will. As a claim goes on, the insurer may argue that new treatment is for age, arthritis, or some other cause instead of the work injury. If it refuses, you can ask the Commission for a hearing.

The same section can also require prosthetics, wheelchairs and other mobility equipment, and, in some cases, modifications to your home or vehicle.

How a Settlement Ends Medical Benefits

Most Virginia cases settle with a full and final settlement: one lump sum that closes the entire case, including future medical care for the injury. Settlements that leave medical benefits open are exceedingly rare. Once the Commission approves a full and final settlement, you cannot come back for more, so the lump sum has to cover every future doctor visit, prescription, and surgery for the injury. A settlement is optional; nobody can force you to take one. Here’s more on workers’ comp settlements in Virginia.

Can Benefits Start Again After They Stop?

If your wage checks stop and your injury later gets worse, you generally have 24 months from the last day for which you were paid compensation under an award to ask the Commission to review it (Va. Code § 65.2-708). For permanent partial disability claims, the period is 36 months. Miss the deadline, and the Commission can’t award more wage benefits under that award, even if your condition has plainly changed. The deadline applies to compensation, not to medical care, which continues under the award as long as it is necessary (Prophet v. Bullock Corp., Va. Ct. App. 2011). More on how long a workers’ comp claim can stay open.

How Long Do Workers’ Comp Death Benefits Last?

When a work accident causes death within nine years, Virginia pays weekly death benefits to the worker’s dependents for 500 or 400 weeks from the date of injury, depending on who the dependents are (Va. Code § 65.2-512).

• 500 weeks for a spouse or children presumed wholly dependent. That includes a dependent spouse and children under 18, children over 18 who are physically or mentally unable to earn a living, and children under 23 who are full-time students (Va. Code § 65.2-515).
• 400 weeks if there is no such spouse or child, for parents in destitute circumstances, others who were wholly dependent in fact, or, if there are none, partial dependents.

Because the weeks run from the date of injury, weeks the worker was paid before death come out of that period. The employer also pays burial expenses of up to $15,000 and transportation expenses for the deceased of up to $1,000. If one dependent’s benefits end, that share is divided among the remaining dependents in the same class.

Questions About How Long Workers’ Comp Lasts

Can workers’ comp last for life in Virginia?

Yes, in two ways. Weekly wage checks last for life if the injury meets Virginia’s definition of permanent and total incapacity. Medical care can also continue for life, as long as it stays necessary and related to the accident and the case hasn’t been closed by a full and final settlement.

What happens when my 500 weeks run out?

Your wage checks end, unless your case is one of the permanent and total incapacity cases the 500-week limit doesn’t apply to. The 500 weeks is a limit on compensation. The Court of Appeals of Virginia has contrasted that limit with the employer’s duty to provide medical care as long as necessary, which “can last for a lifetime.” So necessary medical care for the injury can continue, unless the case has been settled.

Does workers’ comp stop if I go back to light duty?

Your total disability checks stop, but if light duty pays less than you earned before, you may receive partial checks for the difference. Medical care continues. If your restrictions get worse and you can’t work again, total disability checks can resume, but they don’t restart automatically. The insurance company has to agree to pay them, or you have to ask the Commission to review your award based on a change in condition (Va. Code § 65.2-708).

Does a settlement end workers’ comp?

A full and final settlement ends all of it: wage checks, permanent partial disability, and medical care for the injury. Here’s how a Virginia workers’ comp settlement is calculated.

Talk to Pathfinder Injury Law About Your Benefits

Pathfinder Injury Law handles only Virginia workers’ compensation claims. Call 804-505-0633 or use our online contact form.