How ACC calculate employee payments

In the first four weeks of your incapacity

ACC calculate how much ACC will pay based on the employee’s earnings in the four weeks before the employee injury prevented them from being able to work.

After the first four weeks of the employee’s incapacity

After the first four weeks, ACC base your payments on your earnings over the past year before your injury prevented you from being able to work.

·         For permanent employees: if they weren’t employed for the whole year, ACC base this on how long the employee were in permanent employment over that year.

·         For casual or non-permanent employees: ACC base our calculation on all PAYE earnings in the last year.

·         For PAYE shareholder-employees — ACC compare your shareholder earnings in the last year with your shareholder earnings over the financial year before the employee was injured. ACC will pay you whatever is highest.

Minimum and maximum rates of compensation

The rate of compensation ACC can provide is set in ‘The Accident Compensation Act 2001’ and depend on the employees personal circumstance and income. Current weekly compensation:

·         the minimum rate is $604.80

·         the maximum rate is $2,066.58

These rates reflect the minimum and maximum liable income level that the employee pays ACC levies on. The employee only pays levies from, and up to, a certain amount. This means the employee can only get weekly compensation on the income that the employee pays levies on.

ACC set minimum and maximum levels of liable income on 1 July each year.

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