Mass. Gen. Laws » Part I Title XXI Chapter 152
Massachusetts General Laws

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 152, § 34B (2026)

Review date; supplemental benefits to Secs. 31 or 34A

✓ current as of July 2026
Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section MAmalegislature.gov (official) JustiaChapter on Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

Section 34B. October first of each year shall be the review date for the purposes of this section.

Any person receiving or entitled to receive benefits under the provisions of section thirty-one or section thirty-four A whose benefits are based on a date of personal injury at least twenty-four months prior to the review date shall have his weekly benefit adjusted, without application, in accordance with the following provisions; provided, however, that no increase in benefits shall be payable which would reduce any benefits the recipient is receiving pursuant to federal social security law.

(a) The director of administration shall determine the percentage change between the average weekly wage in the commonwealth on the date of the injury and the average weekly wage in the commonwealth on the review date. For purposes of this section, no increase in the average weekly wage in the commonwealth shall exceed the lesser of the following: (i) the percentage change in the most recent annual consumer price index calculated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor for the northeast region for all urban consumers; (ii) five percent.

(b) The death benefit under section thirty-one or the permanent and total disability benefit under section thirty-four A that was being paid prior to any adjustments under this section shall be the base benefit. The base benefit shall be changed on each review date by the percentage change as calculated in paragraph (a); the resulting amount shall be termed the adjusted benefit and is the amount of benefit to be paid on and after the review date. If the adjusted benefit is larger than the base benefit, the difference shall be termed the supplemental benefit. In no instance shall the adjusted benefit under this section be greater than three times the base benefit.

(c) The supplemental benefits under this section shall be paid by the insurer concurrent with the base benefit. Insurers shall be entitled to quarterly reimbursements for supplemental benefits, pursuant to section sixty-five, for cases involving injuries that occurred on or before October first, nineteen hundred and eighty-six, and for those cases occurring thereafter, to the extent such supplemental benefits are due to the increase of greater than five percent in the average weekly wage in the commonwealth in any single year. No self-insurer, self-insurance group or municipality that has chosen non-participation in the assessment provisions for funding such reimbursements pursuant to section sixty-five shall be entitled to such reimbursements.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 17 cases (4 in the last 5 years), 1994–2026 · leading case: Beatty's Case, 998 N.E.2d 1032 (Mass. App. Ct. 2013).
Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment
Beatty's Case, 998 N.E.2d 1032 (Mass. App. Ct. 2013). · cites it 6× “03(3) (1999), should be applied to bar certain claims of Harvard University (Harvard), a self-insurer, for reimbursement of cost of living adjustments (COLA) from the Workers’ Compensation Trust Fund (Fund), pursuant to G. L. c. 152, § 34B, as amended *566 by St.”
Percoco's Case, 634 N.E.2d 1385 (Mass. 1994). · cites it 5× “We also address whether cost of living adjustments under G. L. c. 152, § 34B (1992 ed.), are subject to offset.”
Armstrong's Case, 625 N.E.2d 1358 (Mass. 1994). · cites it 8× “152, § 28, which provides for double compensation in cases of “serious and wilful misconduct of an employer,” and G. L. c. 152, § 34B, which provides for a cost of living adjustment to compensation.”
The Home Ins. Co. v. Workers' Comp. Trust Fund, 36 N.E.3d 600 (Mass. App. Ct. 2015). · cites it 2× “152, § 65(2), to reimbursement for cost of living adjustments (COLA, COLA increases), as prescribed by G. L. c. 152, § 34B, to eleven individuals receiving workers’ compensation benefits.”
Wadsworth's Case, 963 N.E.2d 1181 (Mass. 2012). “The administrative judge ordered the insurer to pay the employee total and permanent disability benefits from July 1, 2003, based on an average weekly wage of $900, at a weekly compensation rate of $600, which would be subject to normal cost-of-living adjustments from that date…”
Coffey v. Cnty. of Plymouth, 727 N.E.2d 856 (Mass. App. Ct. 2000). “32 under G. L. c. 152, § 34B, and $183.66 under G.”
Massachusetts Insurers Insolvency Fund v. Workers' Comp. Trust Fund (Mass. 2025). · cites it 13× “G. L. c. 152, § 34B (c). Section 65 enumerates various types of benefits for which an insurer can be reimbursed, including COLA payments: "There is hereby established a trust fund in the state treasury .”
Morales's Case, 868 N.E.2d 648 (Mass. App. Ct. 2007). “Consistent with the meaning of reimbursement as a repayment, G. L. c. 152, § 34B(c), as appearing in St.”
Emp.'s Reinsurance Corp. v. Workers' Comp. Trust Fund (Mass. App. Ct. 2026). · cites it 4× “" G. L. c. 152, §§ 34B (c), 65 (2) (a). See Gaines's Case, 98 Mass.”
Barbosa's Case, 711 N.E.2d 947 (Mass. App. Ct. 1999). · cites it 2× “” In time, the weekly benefits to be credited against the “excess” grew by application of the COLA factor, as to which see G. L. c. 152, § 34B. It was then that the current controversy between Barbosa and the self-insurer developed.”
Arrowood Indem. Co. v. Workers' Comp. Trust Fund (Mass. App. Ct. 2024). · cites it 3× “See also G. L. c. 152, §§ 34B (c), 37. In Home Ins.”
Camara's Case, 878 N.E.2d 941 (Mass. App. Ct. 2007). · cites it 4× “Under G. L. c. 152, § 34B, 2 compensation benefits are subject *9 to an annual cost of living adjustment in accordance with changes in the average weekly wage.”
Show all 17 citing cases →
— Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 152, § 34B(c) — 1 case
Morales's Case, 868 N.E.2d 648 (Mass. App. Ct. 2007). “Consistent with the meaning of reimbursement as a repayment, G. L. c. 152, § 34B(c), as appearing in St.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.