Corey R. PollardWorkers' compensation & disability attorney · Former insurance defense · Best Lawyers in America®

Virginia’s Workers’ Comp COLA Increased 2.65%. Did Your Check Increase?

Virginia’s workers’ compensation cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) rate of 2.65% took effect on October 1, 2026. If you receive weekly checks for temporary total disability (TTD), permanent total disability, or death benefits and your October deposits look the same, don’t assume the adjuster did something wrong. This increase is not automatic. And for the October 2026 increase, your accident must have occurred before July 1, 2026. You must request the COLA from the Commission – use the COLA Request Form CA51 – and provide the required Social Security information. The Commission gives you two options for providing that information about your Social Security Disability status.

The statute allows two groups to receive the COLA increase

Virginia Code Section 65.2-709 provides COLA supplements for certain recipients of total-disability and death-benefit awards. It does not provide COLA increases for those receiving temporary partial disability (TPD) or permanent partial disability (PPD).

Subsection A says who can qualify. The first group includes injured workers or their dependents whose combined workers’ comp and federal Social Security disability benefits fall below the statute’s 80 percent threshold. For a weekly comparison, the Commission compares the weekly compensation rate plus the weekly Social Security disability amount against 80 percent of the worker’s pre-injury average weekly wage. (Yes, you can receive both SSDI and workers’ comp at the same time).

The second group includes claimants and dependents who do not receive SSDI. If you do not receive SSDI benefits, you are in this second group, and the 80% rule doesn’t apply.  

The 80% test, with the Medicare deduction most people skip

Take a Hampton Roads welder whose pre-injury average weekly wage was $1,200 and whose comp rate is $800. The numbers are hypothetical; the test comes from Virginia law and the Commission.

The Medicare deduction is in the workers’ compensation statute. Subsection A lets you subtract “monthly amounts paid for Medicare” from the Social Security figure before you run the test. It did not change the answer for this welder. But it could change the answer for a lower-wage worker whose combined figure sits within a few dollars of the line. You should run that calculation; don’t expect the insurer to do it.

Social Security retirement benefits are different. The Commission’s guidance says retirement benefits don’t affect COLA entitlement, so a worker who has reached full retirement age and converted from SSDI to retirement can get an increase in their workers’ comp checks.

What 2.65% is worth, and why it compounds

Say you were hurt in January 2026, and you have a starting compensation rate of $800 per week. Then the COLA supplement is worth $21.20 a week, or an extra $1,102.40 per year. And that is only the first year.

What makes the COLA more valuable over time is that it compounds. Subsection C of Virginia Code Section 65.2-709 says so: “The amounts of supplementary payments provided for herein shall be determined by using a compounding method of computation annually.” So next year’s October percentage hike will apply to the starting compensation rate plus every supplement already added.

No one knows what the 2027 COLA increase will be. So I’m using an older injury date to show how COLA compounding puts more money in your pocket.

Take the same injured worker with a starting rate of $800 per week. But instead of getting hurt in January 2026, assume he was hurt in January 2025. That means that as of October 2026, he would have received two COLA increases.

In 2025, the COLA increase was 2.85%, slightly higher than this year’s. As of October 1, 2025, his compensation rate would have increased from $800 to $822.80 per week.

This year’s COLA increase of 2.65% would apply to $822.80 per week, not the starting rate of $800. Therefore, his COLA supplements from 2025 and 2026 would increase his compensation rate to $844.60.

How to request the 2026 COLA supplement

Whether on the defense side or representing injured workers, I’ve never seen an insurer voluntarily pay COLA without the worker filing the COLA Request Form, CA51, with the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission.

I recommend that you obtain a current statement from the Social Security Administration showing your disability-benefit statement or status as soon as October hits. That means getting a statement confirming that you don’t receive SSDI, if true.

You have two options to do this:

• Option 1 (Fastest): Log in to your personal “my Social Security” account at ssa.gov, print or download your official Benefit Verification Letter (which states your monthly benefit or confirms you do not receive SSDI), and attach it to Form CA51.
• Option 2 (In-Person): Bring Form CA51 directly to your local Social Security Administration field office and have an SSA claims representative complete, certify, and sign Section 2.

Before next October comes around

If you’re still receiving TTD, permanent total disability, or death benefits under the Workers’ Compensation Act next October, pull your benefit check and compare it to September’s. There’s a good chance it will be the same.

You must repeat the step above every year that you receive these benefits. It’s easy to assume the COLA supplement applies automatically, but it doesn’t. You must stay on top of the annual filing to receive the increase.