102.44 Maximum limitations.
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102.44 Maximum limitations. Section 102.43 shall be subject to the following limitations:
(ag)Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, every employee who is receiving compensation under this chapter for permanent total disability or continuous temporary total disability, including an employee receiving compensation for permanent and total disability under s. 102.59
(1), more than 24 months after the date of injury resulting from an injury that occurred prior to January 1, 2020, shall receive supplemental benefits that shall be payable by the employer or the employer’s insurance carrier, or in the case of benefits payable to an employee under s. 102.66 , shall be paid by the department out of the fund created under s. 102.65 . Those supplemental benefits shall be paid only for weeks of disability occurring after April 1, 2026, and shall continue during the period of such total disability subsequent to that date as follows:
1. If the employee is receiving the maximum weekly benefits that were in effect at the time of the injury, as determined under s. 102.11
(1), the supplemental benefit for a week of disability shall be an amount that, when added to the regular benefit, equals the maximum weekly benefits that were in effect during 2020. Annually thereafter, on each January 1, the supplemental benefit rate shall be increased to an amount that, when added to the regular benefit, equals the maximum weekly benefits that were in effect during the next succeeding year.
2. If the employee is receiving a weekly benefit that is less than the maximum benefit that was in effect on the date of the injury, as determined under s. 102.11
(1), the supplemental benefit for a week of disability shall be an amount sufficient to bring the total weekly benefits to the same proportion of the maximum weekly benefits that were in effect during 2020 as the employee’s weekly benefit bears to the maximum in effect on the date of injury. Annually thereafter, on each January 1, the supplemental benefit rate shall be increased to an amount sufficient to bring the total weekly benefits to the same proportion of the maximum weekly benefits that were in effect during the next succeeding year as the employee’s weekly benefit bears to the maximum in effect on the date of injury.
1. An insurance carrier paying the supplemental benefits required under this subsection shall be entitled to reimbursement for each such case from the worker’s compensation operations fund, commencing one year after the date of the first payment of those benefits and annually thereafter while those payments continue.
1m. To receive reimbursement under this paragraph, an insurance carrier must file a claim for that reimbursement with the department by no later than 12 months after the end of the year in which the supplemental benefits were paid and the claim must be approved by the department. The insurance carrier shall file a claim under this subdivision using electronic, magnetic, or other reporting media that is required by the department.
2. After the expiration of the deadline for filing a claim under subd. 1. [subd. 1m. ], the department shall determine the total amount of all claims filed by that deadline and shall use that total to determine the amount to be collected under s. 102.75
(1g)from each licensed worker’s compensation insurance carrier, deposited in the worker’s compensation operations fund, and used to provide reimbursement to insurance carriers paying supplemental benefits under this subsection. Subject to subd. 3. , the department shall pay a claim for reimbursement approved by the department by no later than 16 months after the end of the year in which the claim was received by the department.
102.44 Note NOTE: The correct cross-reference is shown in brackets. The portion of subd. 1. relating to the deadline for filing a claim for reimbursement was renumbered to subd. 1m. by 2025 Wis. Act 145 . Corrective legislation is pending.
3. The maximum amount that the department may pay under subd. 2. in a calendar year is $5,000,000. If the amount determined payable under subd. 2. in a calendar year is $5,000,000 or less, the department shall pay that amount. If the amount determined payable under subd. 2. in a calendar year exceeds $5,000,000, the department shall pay $5,000,000 in the year in which the determination is made and, subject to the maximum amount payable of $5,000,000 per calendar year, shall pay the excess in the next calendar year or in subsequent calendar years until that excess is paid in full.
The department shall pay claims for reimbursement under subd. 2. in the chronological order in which those claims are received.
4. This paragraph does not apply to supplemental benefits paid for an injury that occurs on or after January 1, 2016.
(2)In case of permanent total disability, aggregate indemnity shall be weekly indemnity for the period that the employee may live. Total impairment for industrial use of both eyes, the loss of both arms at or near the shoulder, the loss of both legs at or near the hip, or the loss of one arm at the shoulder and one leg at the hip constitutes permanent total disability. This enumeration is not exclusive, but in other cases the department shall find the facts.
Effective date note NOTE: Sub.
(2)is affected by 2025 Wis. Act 15 eff. on the day after the notice from the department of health services under 2025 Wis. Act 15 s. 9119
(b)1 . is published by the legislative reference bureau in the Wisconsin Administrative Register, except that, if the notice is not published before 8-1-27, the treatment of sub.
(2)is void. As affected by 2025 Wis. Act 15 , sub.
(2)reads:
Effective date text
(a)1. In case of permanent total disability, aggregate indemnity shall be weekly indemnity for the period that the employee may live, subject to increase under subd. 2.
Effective date text 2. For injuries occurring on or after January 1, 2026, weekly indemnity for permanent total disability shall, beginning with the 6th anniversary of the date of injury and then annually thereafter on that anniversary, be increased as follows:
Effective date text a. If the employee was receiving the maximum compensation rate, the employee’s weekly indemnity shall be increased to the maximum compensation rate then in effect for that year, as determined under s. 102.11 (1).
Effective date text b. If the employee was receiving less than the maximum compensation rate, the employee’s weekly indemnity shall be increased to an amount that bears the same proportion to the maximum compensation rate then in effect for that year, as determined under s. 102.11 (1), as the employee’s compensation rate bore to the maximum compensation rate that was in effect at the time of the injury.
Effective date text 3. a. If a notice from the department of health services under s. 50.38
(a)1. is published by the legislative reference bureau in the Wisconsin Administrative Register indicating that either s. 50.38
(a)1. a. or b. applies, then no further increases under subd. 2. shall be applied after the date that notice is published until subd. 4. applies.
Effective date text b. Except as provided in subd. 3. a., if a notice from the department of health services under s. 50.38
(a)1. is published by the legislative reference bureau in the Wisconsin Administrative Register indicating that either s. 50.38
(a)1. c. or d. applies, then no further increases under subd. 2. shall be applied beginning on the first day of the calendar year following the calendar year in which the notice is published until subd. 4. applies.
Effective date text 4. a. Notwithstanding subd. 3., if a notice from the department of health services under s. 50.38
(b)1. is published by the legislative reference bureau in the Wisconsin Administrative Register indicating that either s. 50.38
(b)1. a. or b. applies, then increases under subd. 2. shall be applied beginning on from the day the notice is published.
Effective date text b. Notwithstanding subd. 3. and except as provided in subd. 4. a., if a notice from the department of health services under s. 50.38
(b)1. is published by the legislative reference bureau in the Wisconsin Administrative Register indicating that either s. 50.38
(b)1. c. or d. applies, then increases under subd. 2. shall be applied beginning on the first day of the calendar year following the calendar year in which the notice is published.
Effective date text
(b)1. Total impairment for industrial use of both eyes, the loss of both arms at or near the shoulder, the loss of both legs at or near the hip, or the loss of one arm at the shoulder and one leg at the hip constitutes permanent total disability.
Effective date text 2. The enumeration under subd. 1. is not exclusive, but in other cases the department shall find the facts.
(3)For permanent partial disability not covered by ss. 102.52 to 102.56 , the aggregate number of weeks of indemnity shall bear such relation to 1,000 weeks as the nature of the injury bears to one causing permanent total disability and shall be payable at the rate of two-thirds of the average weekly earnings of the employee, the earnings to be computed as provided in s. 102.11 . The weekly indemnity shall be in addition to compensation for the healing period and shall be for the period that the employee may live, not to exceed 1,000 weeks.