Stipulations in a Virginia Workers’ Compensation Case

A stipulation is a voluntary, binding agreement between you and the insurer about a specific fact or issue in your case. Agreeing to one will resolve that single issue while leaving the rest of your workers’ compensation claim open, including any disputes. A stipulation is not a settlement – if that is the paper in front of you, start with the settlements guide.  

Courts, including the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission, encourage parties to stipulate to undisputed issues. Stipulations, however, are a double-edged sword. While you can use one to prove your entitlement to workers’ compensation benefits, the insurer can use one to establish a defense against you.

Stipulation vs. Settlement: What’s the Difference?

You may confuse a stipulation with a settlement. Many injured workers do.

Understanding the distinction is critical to maximizing your case’s value and protecting your rights.

A stipulation resolves a single, specific issue or fact. Multiple issues or facts determine a case’s outcome, so that single stipulation, or even multiple stipulations, may not resolve your claim. They certainly won’t close your case.

In contrast, a settlement often closes the entire workers’ compensation claim in exchange for a lump sum.

The confusion is that the Commission will allow the parties to resolve specific benefit claims using a Stipulated Order. But this stipulation applies only to the pending claim, not the entire case. And many workers’ comp cases involve two or more claims

What can you stipulate to?

The parties can stipulate to a great many things during workers’ compensation litigation. In a Virginia case, you may stipulate to:

• Employment Status: That you were an employee at the time of the workplace accident
• Average Weekly Wage (AWW): The correct pre-injury average weekly wage
• Notice: That you reported the work injury in a timely fashion
• Choice of physician: Your authorized treating physician
• The injuries you suffered
• How the accident happened
• Periods of total disability from work
• Your temporary partial disability rate if you returned to light-duty employment after the accident
• That your marketing efforts during periods of disability were sufficient.
• A witness’s testimony, if that witness cannot attend the hearing
• The authenticity of documents
• The contents of documents – that is, what they say
• The qualifications of expert witnesses
• The percentage of permanent impairment you have from the work injury.

The parties can also stipulate to the amount of an attorney’s fee where a prior attorney has asserted a fee lien, and to additional nonsuits – Virginia allows one as a matter of right.

Three High-Value Stipulations for Injured Workers

Three of these can carry considerable weight for you, the injured worker.

How the work accident happened

A stipulation about what caused the accident can prove compensability by itself. In Rivas v. US General Services LLC, JCN VA00002328626 (Aug. 7, 2026), the Commission held that the parties’ stipulation that the claimant’s injury occurred when he stepped in or on a defect in the surface he was walking on was sufficient to prove a compensable injury by accident.

Rivas is worth reading in full, because it sits on the line between a finding of fact and a question of law. Parties have broad room to stipulate to facts. They have less room to stipulate to legal conclusions. Whether an injury is compensable under the Workers’ Compensation Act is the Commission’s call.

What the parties agreed to in Rivas was a fact: how the claimant got hurt. But in stipulating to this fact, the insurer essentially conceded the legal question of whether the accident arose from a risk of the employment.

Marketing your residual work capacity

Marketing is one of the most heavily litigated issues in Virginia workers’ compensation. I would go so far as to say that it is the bane of any claimant’s attorney’s existence, because no bright-line rule exists, and many injured employees do not see the point in marketing when they know a new employer is unlikely to hire them with restrictions. I agree, for many reasons, but the law still requires it.

A stipulation can take the need to market off the table entirely. In Wethington v. Smithfield Packing, VWC File No. 211-53-32 (Dec. 1, 2004), the employer stated explicitly, after hearing the claimant’s testimony about his job search, that marketing was not an issue. The Commission held that statement was a stipulation, and that the claimant need not offer additional proof of marketing.

The percentage of permanent impairment

This is one of the most common stipulations injured workers encounter, and it comes with a specific dollar figure attached. Here are two examples from my cases:

• PPD for the legs from a back injury. The Commission awarded permanent partial disability benefits to an auto manufacturing worker in Southwest Virginia after the parties stipulated to a permanent impairment to the legs from the work injury, which had occurred decades earlier. We stipulated to these body parts because the back and spine are not scheduled body parts under Virginia Code Section 65.2-503.
• PPD after a total knee replacement, with no rating. In another case, the employer agreed to stipulate to PPD for an injury requiring a total knee replacement despite no impairment rating. This stipulated rating was worth more than $90,000.

Why should you stipulate?

Fighting the employer and insurer on every issue is tempting, especially if you feel they have treated you unfairly. But this approach can be a mistake that prevents you from reaching the goal – obtaining wage loss benefits and lifetime medical treatment or negotiating a reasonable workers’ compensation settlement.  

Stipulating to specific facts can often increase the likelihood of a favorable outcome by:

• Narrowing the issues in dispute, which simplifies the case for the deputy commissioner so they can better follow your story and theory of the case.
• Shortening the hearing. No one wants to spend all day in court and risk the judge missing critical testimony.
• Saving money on litigation costs.
• Satisfying your burden of proof on certain issues.

And for those of you who want your day in court: stipulating to some issues does not cost you a hearing on the others.

For these reasons and others, the Workers’ Compensation Commission has stated that stipulations have “a special place in the hearing process ….”

What you should hesitate to stipulate to

Stipulations can have many upsides. But it can also cost you thousands of dollars in benefits.

A stipulation removes an issue from the case permanently, regardless of who it helps or hurts, and insurers propose them for their own self-interest. Before you agree, ask what the insurer gets out of it.

Pay close attention to offers to stipulate to the following:

• The end date of a disability period. If you concede you were no longer disabled as of a certain date, you waive wage loss benefits for periods after. While you may be able to get them reinstated if you receive a new set of instructions, you may face delays and need to market your residual work capacity.
• The date of a light-duty release. If you stipulate that your treating doctor released you to return to work with restrictions on a given date, you have a duty to market as of that date.
• Average weekly wage. Insurers often ask employees to stipulate to an average weekly wage, not intentionally, but because they received incomplete information from their insured, the employer. Do not stipulate to a calculation that leaves out overtime or fails to include wages from a second job that counts as substantially similar employment.

What happens if I enter into a stipulation?

The stipulated evidence binds all parties. When the parties stipulate, it is not the Commission’s “role, as neutral arbiter of the case, to question whether this stipulation is supported by the other evidence in the record.” Rather, the Commission considers the stipulation as relevant, material, and probative evidence for which the parties do not have to offer proof.

You cannot later claim the assertion in the stipulation is untrue, or that the other party failed to offer evidence to support it. So you must consider the consequences of stipulating to something, because you will have to live with it.  

Do stipulations have to be in writing?

No.

Although I prefer to have all agreements and stipulations in writing in case a dispute arises later, the parties can stipulate verbally on the record, with a court reporter transcribing the statement. What matters is that the Commission accepts the manner in which you offer the stipulation.

Do I have to stipulate to anything?

No.

Stipulations are voluntary; the Commission cannot require you or your opponent to stipulate.

But do not reject a proposed stipulation solely to spite the other party. Doing so can make you seem unreasonable in the deputy commissioner’s eyes, and many cases come down to what side seems more trustworthy.

Here’s another tip: Trade stipulations, don’t just refuse. You can use the opposing party’s request that you stipulate a fact as an opening to ask for stipulations of your own that favor your case.

Can you get out of a stipulation?

Don’t count on it.

Once a stipulation is entered on the record and accepted by the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission, it is binding and difficult to undo.

The Commission strictly enforces stipulations unless you can meet the high burden of proving mutual mistake, fraud, or misrepresentation. Simply changing your mind, discovering new evidence you could have found earlier, or realizing you made a bad deal that will limit your benefits will not set it aside.

Before you agree to anything on the record

Talk to an attorney to review what the adjuster or defense attorney has put in front of you. Understand what you concede, what it is worth, and what to ask for in exchange.