Hawaii Workers' Compensation: Deadlines, Benefits and How to File

Any employer with one or more employees, whether full-time or part-time, permanent or temporary, must provide workers' compensation coverage. Exclusions include domestic workers earning less than $225 in cash per calendar quarter and ordained, commissioned or licensed ministers, priests or rabbis. The employer pays the entire premium; employees do not contribute. Employers without coverage face penalties of at least $500, or $100 per employee for each day without coverage.

Report the date, time and circumstances of the injury to your immediate supervisor or employer immediately, either orally or in writing. The employer must report the injury to the Disability Compensation Division within seven working days if it causes absence of a day or more or needs more than ordinary first aid.

There is a three-day waiting period; weekly wage-loss benefits are paid from the fourth day of disability, for periods a physician certifies the worker cannot work.

Temporary total disability pays 66 2/3% of the worker's average weekly wage, up to the maximum weekly benefit set each year by the Department. Workers with two or more jobs may qualify for concurrent benefits. If the workers' compensation claim is disputed and unpaid, the worker may file a Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI) claim, which the TDI carrier can later recover from workers' compensation.

For 2026, the maximum weekly workers' compensation benefit is $1,240.00, equal to the state average weekly wage. The corresponding maximum weekly wage base is $1,859.91.

You may get treatment from a physician of your choice who practices on the island where you live, but you may have only one attending physician at a time; referrals to specialists need the insurer's approval. You may change your attending physician once, but must notify the insurance carrier before the change. Any further changes need the carrier's approval first.

After the worker reaches medical stability (maximum medical recovery), a physician may evaluate the extent of permanent impairment, and that evaluation is used to set the permanent partial disability award. Additional compensation may be paid for permanent disfigurement such as scars. If the worker cannot do any kind of work, permanent total disability benefits may be awarded after a hearing by the Department.

If a work injury causes death, the surviving spouse and dependent minor children (including full-time students up to age 21) receive weekly benefits, and in some situations other dependents may qualify. Funeral expenses are allowed up to 10 times the maximum weekly benefit rate, and burial expenses up to 5 times that rate.

Report the injury to your employer. The employer files an Employer's Report of Industrial Injury (WC-1). If the employer fails to file the report or denies the claim, file an Employee's Claim for Workers' Compensation Benefits (Form WC-5) with the nearest Disability Compensation Division office. Employers must give injured employees the 'Highlights of the Hawaii Workers' Compensation Law' brochure within three working days of notice of injury.

Issues that cannot be resolved by agreement go to a hearing before the Disability Compensation Division (request it with Form WC-77, Application for Hearing), which issues a decision. A party who disagrees must file a written appeal with the Labor and Industrial Relations Appeals Board, or at the nearest Division office, within 20 days of the mailing of the decision; a postmark by the deadline is not enough.

It is unlawful for an employer to suspend or discharge an employee solely because of a compensable work injury, unless the employee can no longer perform their work because of the injury and the employer has no other available work for them.

Temporary total disability benefits are paid for the duration of the disability (not including the first three calendar days); the statute does not set a maximum number of weeks. Temporary total benefits may be stopped only by order of the Director of Labor and Industrial Relations or when the employee is able to return to work, and an employer ending benefits because the employee can work must give at least two weeks' written notice before the last payment.

Yes, but a compromise of a claim pending before the Director of Labor and Industrial Relations is valid only if the Director approves it by decision as conforming to the workers' compensation law. A compromise during an appeal cannot be approved until the Director has been notified of the proposed terms and had a chance to be heard. Separately, on application of the injured worker, dependents or employer, the Director may order weekly benefits converted (commuted) into a lump sum if it is in the worker's or dependents' best interest and does not impose undue hardship on the employer.

In Hawaii, report a work injury immediately (orally or in writing) to your supervisor or employer. If the injury causes at least one day of lost work or needs more than ordinary first aid, the employer must report it to the Disability Compensation Division (DCD) on Form WC-1 (Employer's Report of Industrial Injury/Illness) and give you a copy. If the employer denies the claim or does not file it, you may file Form WC-5, Employee's Claim for Workers' Compensation Benefits, with DCD. Appeals of DCD decisions must be filed in writing within 20 days of the mailing of the decision. DCD: (808) 586-9151; claim status (Oahu Facilitator's Unit) (808) 586-9161.

Hawaii law does not require an injured worker to hire an attorney. Any attorney fees in a workers' comp case must be approved by the Disability Compensation Division and are usually a lien on your benefits. DCD provides an interpreter at no cost on request ((808) 586-9151).

Generally no: workers' comp rights and remedies exclude all other liability of the employer to the worker, the worker's spouse, dependents, next of kin or anyone else entitled to recover damages for the injury, whether under common law or otherwise. The statute's exception allows a civil lawsuit for sexual harassment or sexual assault and infliction of emotional distress or invasion of privacy related to it.

Yes. A worker may collect comp and also sue a third party (not the employer or a co-employee acting in the course of employment) who is liable for the injury, and must notify the employer in writing without delay, by personal service or registered mail, naming the court. If the worker has not sued within nine months after the injury, the employer is subrogated to the worker's rights (the worker may still sue or join). A settlement or release is invalid without the written consent of both employer and worker; from any recovery the employer is reimbursed for comp paid (less its share of fees and costs when the worker brought the suit) and may get a first lien, and the employer is then relieved of further comp up to the remaining net recovery.

Private employers must secure comp by insuring with an authorized insurer, depositing security, proving solvency, or qualified self-insurance or group arrangements. If an injured worker fails to receive prompt and proper compensation through no fault of the worker, the Director of Labor and Industrial Relations pays the full compensation and benefits from the special compensation fund; the employer must then repay the fund on the director's order, and the fund takes over the worker's rights against the employer.

A decision of the Director of Labor and Industrial Relations becomes final unless a party files a written notice of appeal with the Labor and Industrial Relations Appeals Board (or with the department) within 20 days after a copy of the decision was sent to the parties. The Appeals Board's decision may then be appealed to the Intermediate Court of Appeals within 30 days after a certified copy of the decision or order is mailed.