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An SLU Award Under WCL § 15(3) Pays Permanent Loss of Use in Weeks
A schedule loss of use award, or SLU, is the New York workers' comp award for permanent damage to an arm, leg, hand, foot, finger, toe, eye, or hearing.
Each body part is worth a fixed number of weeks under Workers' Compensation Law § 15(3), such as 312 weeks for an arm and 288 for a leg.
A doctor rates the percentage of use you lost, and the Board multiplies those weeks by the percentage and by two-thirds of your average weekly wage.
The award does not depend on missing work, and you can ask for it in one lump sum.
The rating waits until you reach maximum medical improvement, which is often about a year after the injury or the last surgery.
Call (888) 713-6653 for a free review of an SLU rating before you accept it.
- WCL § 15(3) fixes the weeks for each body part, from 312 for an arm to 15 for a fourth finger
- The award equals the weeks, times the percentage lost, times two-thirds of your average weekly wage, capped by your date of injury
- Doctors rate loss of use under the 2018 Impairment Guidelines once you reach maximum medical improvement
- It is paid whether or not you return to work, and in one lump sum if you ask
- Back, neck, and brain injuries are not on the schedule and are paid as non-schedule permanent disability instead
The § 15(3) Schedule of Weeks for Each Body Part
The legislature set the value of each member in weeks of compensation, and the Board applies them as written.[1] The Board's guidance treats the arm as the shoulder and elbow, the hand as the wrist and forearm, the leg as the hip and knee, and the foot as the ankle.[2]
| Body Part | Weeks for Total Loss of Use | WCL § 15(3) |
|---|---|---|
| Arm | 312 | (a) |
| Leg | 288 | (b) |
| Hand | 244 | (c) |
| Foot | 205 | (d) |
| Eye | 160 | (e) |
| Hearing, both ears | 150 | (m) |
| Thumb | 75 | (f) |
| Hearing, one ear | 60 | (m) |
| First finger | 46 | (g) |
| Great toe | 38 | (h) |
| Second finger | 30 | (i) |
| Third finger | 25 | (j) |
| Any other toe | 16 | (k) |
| Fourth finger | 15 | (l) |
Serious facial or head disfigurement is paid separately, up to $20,000. When an accident damages more than one member, each one gets its own award.
The weeks never change, so the doctor's percentage and your average weekly wage are the two numbers in the award worth checking.
How the Workers' Comp Board Turns a Loss-of-Use Percentage Into Dollars
"A 25 percent loss of use of an arm at a $900 weekly wage is 78 weeks at $600, or $46,800."
The formula has three parts: the weeks for the body part, the percentage of use lost, and your weekly compensation rate, which is two-thirds of your average weekly wage up to the maximum for your date of injury.
Two Worked Examples
The Board's arm example: 312 weeks times 25 percent is 78 weeks. Two-thirds of a $900 average weekly wage is $600. The award is 78 times $600, or $46,800.
A knee rated at 20 percent: 288 weeks for the leg times 20 percent is 57.6 weeks. On an $1,800 average weekly wage, two-thirds is $1,200, which is under the $1,281.50 cap for injuries from July 1, 2026. The award is 57.6 times $1,200, or $69,120.
These are illustrations of the formula, not predictions for any claim.
Two adjustments change the check you receive. The Board deducts temporary disability benefits already paid from the award, except where healing ran longer than the statute's listed healing period for that body part, such as 40 weeks for a leg or 32 for an arm, in which case the extra time is added on top. And an attorney's fee approved by the Board, 15 percent of the amount due beyond what the carrier already paid, comes out of the award.
A five-point difference in the percentage on a leg is more than 14 weeks of compensation.
The rating is the one number in a comp case that pays for what the injury took permanently. We ask clients to show us what they can no longer do with the hand or the knee, because the measurements in the report should match the life the person is living.
Why an SLU Rating Waits for Maximum Medical Improvement
A loss-of-use percentage is measured once the injury has stopped improving, a point the guidelines call maximum medical improvement. For a case without surgery or a fracture, it cannot be found sooner than six months after the injury, and in most cases it is about a year after the injury or the last surgery.[3]
- The 2018 Impairment Guidelines. Doctors rate schedule losses under the Board's guidelines that took effect January 1, 2018, measuring range of motion and specific findings for each joint.[4]
- The rating report. Your doctor's findings go to the Board on the Form C-4.3, the Doctor's Report of MMI and Permanent Impairment.
- The carrier's examination. The carrier can have you examined by its own consultant, who issues a separate rating.
A rating taken too early, before therapy or a second surgery has run its course, locks in a number that may not match the injury you end up living with. Our national page on how permanent impairment ratings are disputed covers the medical side in more depth.
Back, Neck, and Brain Injuries Fall Outside the Schedule
The schedule lists limbs, digits, eyes, and hearing. The spine, the head, and internal organs are not on it, so a permanent injury to them is classified as a non-schedule permanent partial disability under § 15(3)(w).
Those benefits are paid weekly, based on how much of your wage-earning capacity you lost, and they stop after a set number of weeks.[5]
- 15 percent or less of capacity lost: up to 225 weeks
- More than 30 and up to 40 percent: up to 275 weeks
- More than 50 and up to 60 percent: up to 350 weeks
- More than 75 and up to 80 percent: up to 425 weeks
- More than 95 percent: up to 525 weeks
Medical care continues after the weekly payments end unless the carrier proves it is no longer needed. When one accident injures both a knee and the back, how the Board classifies each injury changes the total, so the classification hearing deserves the same attention as the rating.
Disputing a Low SLU Percentage From the Carrier's Consultant
When your doctor and the carrier's consultant disagree, a Workers' Compensation Law Judge decides which rating is more credible, and the guidelines are the measuring stick for both. A report that skips the measurements the guidelines require is the easiest one to challenge.
- Check the member. A shoulder injury belongs on the arm schedule and a knee on the leg schedule, and the member decides the weeks the award starts from.
- Check the date. A rating taken before maximum medical improvement can be premature.
- Check for a second member. An injury to both hands, or to a hand and an eye, is two awards, not one.
- Ask for the lump sum. Under § 25, a schedule award is payable in one lump sum on request, without a discount to present value.[6]
The Court of Appeals has described a schedule award as compensation for lost earning power that is independent of the time lost from work, so returning to your job does not reduce it.[7] For the rest of a New York comp claim, from the 30-day notice to settlements, see our page on workers' compensation claims across New York.