Does Your Age Affect a California Workers' Comp Settlement?

Does your age affect a California workers' comp settlement?

Yes, in a few specific ways. Your age at the time of injury changes one number in the disability rating formula. It can also affect a minor's wage figure or a Medicare step in a settlement.

Age does not decide whether a work injury is covered. California's no-fault rule covers an eligible injury the same way at 19 or at 69. What age changes is narrower. It changes a handful of specific numbers inside a claim, not your right to file one.

Four things change with age in a California workers' comp claim. They are the rating schedule's age step, the wage figure for a worker hurt before 18, a Medicare step in some settlements, and the years of future care a settlement needs to cover. Each one is explained below with the rule behind it.

How does Labor Code 4660.1 adjust a disability rating for age?

The rating schedule adds a separate age step. It comes after the medical impairment step and the job step.

For an injury on or after January 1, 2013, a doctor first rates whole person impairment. The doctor uses the AMA Guides, Fifth Edition. Labor Code 4660.1 then adds three more steps. It multiplies that number by a fixed 1.4 factor. It adjusts the result for the worker's occupation. It adjusts the result again for the worker's age on the date of injury.

The statute does not print the age numbers itself. It leaves them to a regulation, 8 CCR 9805. That regulation adopted the current Schedule for Rating Permanent Disabilities, effective January 1, 2005. Until the Administrative Director changes it, every 2013-forward claim uses that same 2005 age table.

The schedule's age table works like a lookup chart. Find the rating from the earlier steps in the left column. Read across to the column for the worker's age on the date of injury. That number is the adjusted rating.

We checked that table from a rating of 1 up to a rating of 100. The pattern holds at every level we checked. For the same starting number, an older age bracket gives an equal or higher final rating. A younger age bracket gives an equal or lower one. For example, a rating of 20 percent before the age step comes out like this once the age step is applied:

Those four numbers come straight from the schedule's own age table (Schedule for Rating Permanent Disabilities, page 6-1, checked November 7, 2026). They show the pattern only. Your own impairment, job group, and rating decide the real line that applies to you. A QME, a rater at the Disability Evaluation Unit, or your attorney can point to that exact number.

An injury before January 1, 2013 uses a related rule, Labor Code 4660. It skips the flat 1.4 factor but still draws its age numbers from the same 2005 schedule. Either way, this age step only touches the permanent disability percentage. Temporary disability is figured under a separate rule, Labor Code 4653. That rule pays two-thirds of average weekly earnings, with no age step at all. See our Labor Code 4660.1 guide for the full 2013-forward formula and how a disability rating is built and challenged for the impairment, job, and payment steps around it.

Can an insurer blame part of my disability on my age instead of the injury?

Only with a reasoned medical opinion. An insurer cannot simply write off part of a disability as normal aging.

This is a different issue from the age step above, and the two are worth keeping separate. Apportionment under Labor Code 4663 lets a doctor split a disability between the current work injury and some other cause, such as a documented prior condition. The doctor must give an approximate percent for each cause. The doctor must also explain the medical reasons for that split. A report that notes a worker's age without a real medical reason attached is weak proof. A worker can challenge that kind of report. See our guide to pre-existing conditions and apportionment for how that fight plays out.

Does age change how a permanently injured minor's benefit is figured?

Yes, but only one number: the wage figure behind a benefit for a worker hurt before age 18.

California law counts minors as covered employees, whether their work was lawful or not, under Labor Code 3351. A work injury to a worker under 18 is covered the same no-fault way as any other work injury. Only one thing changes, and only once that injury is rated permanent. Under Labor Code 4455, the weekly wage behind that benefit is based on what the worker would likely earn at 18 in that job. It is not based on the lower wage a minor often actually earns. The projected wage still has to fit inside the usual limits Labor Code 4453 sets for every claim. This rule leaves temporary disability untouched. It does not change whether the injury itself is covered. See our Labor Code 4455 guide for the full rule and its fallback.

Does turning 65 or qualifying for Medicare change a settlement?

It can add one step: setting aside part of the settlement for Medicare if the settlement ends future medical care.

Medicare generally starts at 65. Some people qualify earlier through disability, ALS, or permanent kidney failure. Reaching that point does not change your workers' comp coverage or your disability rating. It mainly matters when a Compromise and Release closes out future medical care. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reviews a proposed Medicare Set-Aside, or MSA, in two cases. The first is when the worker is already on Medicare and the settlement is greater than $25,000. The second is when the worker is not yet on Medicare, but is likely to enroll within 30 months, and the settlement for future medical care and lost wages is greater than $250,000. No statute requires that CMS review. Skipping Medicare's interest when it applies can still leave a worker covering care that Medicare later refuses to pay. See how an MSA works for the full process.

Does age change whether I should keep medical care open or settle it for cash?

Age alone is not the reason either way. The real question is how many years of future treatment the money has to cover.

A Compromise and Release often buys out future medical care for a lump sum. In exchange, the carrier's ongoing duty under Labor Code 4600 ends. Pricing that trade means estimating future treatment. A younger worker's remaining treatment years can look different from an older worker's, especially once an MSA projection is part of the talks. Still, the injury itself, and the care it is likely to need, decide the open-or-close question far more than age alone. See keeping medical open versus closing it by Compromise and Release for the full comparison.

When does a lawyer help with an age-related question in a settlement?

Whenever the age step in a rating, a minor's wage figure, apportionment, or an MSA is part of your claim and the numbers do not add up.

These calculations are mechanical once the right inputs are confirmed. The inputs themselves are often disputed: the correct job group, the medical reasons behind an apportionment split, or the records behind a Medicare projection. Yazdchi Law P.C. reviews each claim individually and can go over how these rules apply to your own rating or settlement. Call (661) 273-1780 or use the contact form to ask about a specific number in your case.

Yazdchi Law P.C. serves injured workers across California from its Palmdale office. The firm reviews each matter individually before deciding how it can help, and it does not take every case. If an age step, a minor's pay figure, apportionment, or an MSA is part of your claim, call (661) 273-1780 or send a contact form message to go over the numbers.