You did the responsible thing. After your work injury, your doctor cleared you for light duty, your employer had a spot for you, and you went back. The problem is the paycheck. You are on fewer hours, or off overtime, or in a lower-paying role — and you are bringing home noticeably less than you did before you got hurt.
Then the comp checks stop. The insurance carrier sees that you are "back to work" and treats your case like it is over. But your bills did not shrink to match your smaller paycheck. You are working again and still falling behind, and no one told you that you may still be owed money for exactly this situation.
Keep in mind who actually pays. Workers' comp checks do not come from New York State — they come from your employer's insurance carrier. New York law sets the rules, but it is the carrier that decides when to stop paying, and the carrier that has to be held to what the law requires.
This gap — between your old wage and your new, lower one — is what reduced-earnings benefits are built to cover. If you are earning less because of your injury, your claim is very likely not over.
What Reduced-Earnings Benefits Actually Are
In New York, workers' comp does not only pay people who cannot work at all. It also pays workers who have a partial disability — an injury that lets you do some work, but not everything you used to, and not at the same pay.
When that partial disability causes you to earn less than before, you may be entitled to reduced-earnings benefits. These are weekly payments meant to make up part of the difference between what you used to earn and what you earn now.
The key idea: the benefit is tied to your lost wages, not to whether you are working. You can be back on the job, clocking in every day, and still be owed money — because you are earning less than you would have if you had never been hurt.
How the Money Is Calculated
New York generally calculates reduced-earnings benefits as two-thirds of the difference between two numbers:
- Your average weekly wage (AWW) before the injury — your normal earnings, including things like regular overtime
- Your current earnings now that you are back at reduced work
So the math looks roughly like this:
- Start with your pre-injury average weekly wage.
- Subtract what you are earning now.
- Take two-thirds of that difference.
That two-thirds amount is your weekly benefit, subject to the statewide maximum the law sets — $1,281.50 per week for injuries dated on or after July 1, 2026. That ceiling resets every July 1, and the one that applies to you is the one in effect on your date of accident.
A simple way to see it: the bigger the gap between your old wage and your new lower wage, the bigger your weekly benefit. If your hours or pay drop further, your benefit can go up. If your earnings recover, it can go down. The benefit moves with your actual wage loss.
Why working can be worth more than staying out
Here is the part that surprises most people: once you are working at reduced earnings, your weekly benefit is based on your actual wage loss, not on your percentage of disability. As long as you still have some partial disability, it is two-thirds of the gap — whatever that gap is.
Take a worker who earned $1,500 a week before the injury and is found 25% partially disabled:
- Out of work, the benefit is based on that 25% rate. Two-thirds of 25% of $1,500 comes to $250 — below the statutory weekly minimum, so this worker would receive the minimum instead.
- Working a part-time job paying $250 a week, the benefit is two-thirds of the difference: ($1,500 − $250) × ⅔ = $833.33 a week.
Same injury, same disability rating — and far more each week, because the benefit follows the wage gap. Depending on your restrictions, lower-paying work may be the only kind available to you, and the law accounts for that.
This is why "back to work" and "claim closed" are not the same thing. As long as the injury keeps your earnings below where they were, the wage gap — and your right to be paid for part of it — can continue.
Returning to Work Does Not Automatically End Your Claim
One of the most common and costly misunderstandings injured workers have is believing that the moment they go back, their case is finished.
It is not. Returning to work, especially at light duty, can actually help your claim in important ways:
- It shows you are willing and trying to work, which undercuts any argument that you are avoiding employment.
- It keeps income coming in while your medical situation continues.
- It can preserve your eligibility for reduced-earnings benefits, because you are demonstrating an ongoing wage loss caused by the injury.
What ends or reduces benefits is not the act of going back — it is when your wage loss disappears or your disability resolves. If you are still treating, still restricted, and still earning less, you may still have a live claim with real value.
Why Documenting the Wage Loss Is Everything
Here is the hard part. Reduced-earnings benefits are not handed to you automatically. You generally have to prove the wage loss and show that it is connected to your injury. The carrier will not do this for you — and often has an interest in not seeing it.
To protect these benefits, documentation matters enormously:
- Keep your pay records — not just pay stubs, but your W-2s and tax returns. Pre-injury earnings (including overtime) and current pay showing the drop are the backbone of any reduced-earnings claim.
- If you are paid in cash, report it on your taxes. Off-the-books pay feels like a good deal until you get hurt. If the income was never reported, there may be no record you were ever paid it — and no way to prove the wages your benefits are based on.
- Hold onto your medical paperwork. Your doctor's notes on work restrictions and your level of disability tie the wage loss to the injury.
- Track changes in hours and duties. If you were moved to a lighter or lower-paying role, write down when and why.
- Document any job search. If you are partially disabled, the Board can require you to show you are looking for work within your restrictions to keep receiving benefits — this is called labor market attachment. Working at reduced earnings is one way of meeting it; a documented work search or a retraining program are others.
A well-documented file is the difference between a benefit the carrier pays and one it quietly ignores. The numbers have to be on the record, and they have to be clearly connected to your injury.
The Hidden Risk in a Light-Duty Offer
When your employer offers you a light-duty job, your instinct is usually to take it — and often that is the right call. But accepting a job your doctor has not cleared, or refusing one without understanding the benefit impact, is where workers get hurt.
A few things to understand before you decide:
- Your doctor has to honestly agree you can do it. Whatever your employer calls "light duty," do not take it on against your doctor's advice. Ask your doctor what they really think of the job — and do not pressure them into clearing you because you are anxious to get back to a paycheck.
- Going back is treated as proof you can do the work. Once you take a job, the burden shifts to you to show you cannot do it, no matter how obvious that feels. You can stop working again if your doctor says you should, but you start from a weaker position.
- Do not do anything your boss asks until your doctor clears it.
- Refusing suitable work can put your benefits at risk. If the offered job fits your medical restrictions and you turn it down, the carrier may argue you walked away from available work — and your benefits can suffer.
- Accepting a job that pays less does not mean accepting that smaller paycheck as your whole income. That wage gap is exactly what reduced-earnings benefits are designed to address.
- The details of the offer matter. Hours, pay rate, duties, and whether it truly fits your restrictions all change how the offer affects your weekly check.
The danger is signing on to a lower-paying light-duty role, watching your comp checks stop, and assuming that is just how it works. It is not. You may be entitled to be paid for the difference — but only if the wage loss is documented and claimed correctly.
Do Not Leave the Wage Gap on the Table
If you have gone back to work after a New York work injury and you are earning less than you did before, your claim is very likely not finished. Reduced-earnings benefits exist precisely for workers in your position — people who are doing the right thing by working, but who are being shortchanged because of an injury that was not their fault.
The carrier benefits when you assume your case is over. We know how to document a wage loss and fight for the benefits the law allows.
Back at work but earning less after a NY injury?
Workers’ compensation is what we do. At Schotter Millican, LLP, we represent injured workers across New York City, and we have never represented an insurance company or carrier.
Call (718) 770-3708 for a free case review. No fee unless we win.
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