Hawaii TDI & Prepaid Health Care Calculator

How Hawaii TDI works

Hawaii's Temporary Disability Insurance program, established under HRS Chapter 392, requires most employers to provide short-term disability coverage. The Hawaii Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP), Division of Consumer Advocacy (DCD), publishes an annual bulletin each December setting the next year's wage base and maximum weekly benefit.

The round-up rule matters: a wage that produces a fractional benefit rounds to the next higher whole dollar, not to the nearest dollar. For example, an average weekly wage of $1,000 produces a raw benefit of $580.00 — already whole. A wage of $1,001 produces $580.58, which rounds up to $581.00.

The $7.50/week employee deduction cap

Employers may deduct up to 0.5% of weekly wages from employees to offset the cost of TDI coverage, but the deduction may not exceed $7.50 per week regardless of the employee's wage level. The deduction cap means any employee earning more than $1,500 per week pays the same flat $7.50. Note that the 2026 weekly wage base is $1,500.21 — so an employee earning exactly the wage base hits the cap at $7.50 ($1,500.21 × 0.5% = $7.501, capped).

TDI eligibility requirements

To qualify for TDI benefits, an employee must have worked for a Hawaii employer in at least 14 weeks within the 52 weeks before the first day of disability. Each qualifying week requires at least 20 hours worked and at least $400 earned. The 14 weeks need not be consecutive. Benefits begin on the 8th calendar day of disability and may last up to 26 weeks.

Annually-set figures — these change each January

The maximum weekly benefit ($871.00) and the weekly wage base ($1,500.21) are set annually by the DCD bulletin, effective each January 1. The employee deduction cap ($7.50) and deduction rate (0.5%) are statutory and change only by legislative amendment. Review the DCD website each December for the following year's figures.

How the Prepaid Health Care Act works

Hawaii's Prepaid Health Care Act (HRS Chapter 393) requires most employers to provide qualifying health insurance to employees who meet both of the following thresholds and have been employed for at least 4 consecutive weeks:

• Hours threshold: The employee works 20 or more hours per week.
• Wage threshold: The employee's monthly wages are at least 86.67 × the Hawaii minimum hourly wage. At the current rate of $16.00/hr (effective January 1, 2026), the threshold is $1386.72/month.

The wage threshold is a formula, not a fixed dollar figure

The DLIR Highlights document states the threshold as "86.67 times the Hawaii minimum hourly wage per month" — not a fixed dollar amount. This is intentional: as the minimum wage rises, the coverage threshold moves with it. When the Hawaii minimum wage rises to $18.00 on January 1, 2028, the monthly wage threshold will automatically become $18.00 × 86.67 = $1,560.06. This calculator derives the threshold from the live minimum wage value in the registry; the figure shown here is not hardcoded.

Cost sharing rules

The employer must pay at least 50% of the premium. The employee's share of the premium may not exceed 1.5% of monthly wages. If the employee's allowable 1.5% contribution is less than the remaining half of the premium (the employee's share after the employer's 50%), the employer must cover the difference. In practice, for lower-wage employees, the employer ends up paying more than 50%.

The 4-week consecutive employment requirement

Employees must complete 4 consecutive weeks of employment before the PHC obligation attaches. Part-time employees who meet the hours and wage thresholds from week one are not covered until week four. This is a distinct test from the TDI 14-week lookback.

How Hawaii differs from other states

No other state in the U.S. mandates both a short-term disability program and employer-sponsored health coverage as a matter of general wage-and-hour law. Most states leave health insurance to the federal framework (ACA employer mandates) and either have no TDI program or a voluntary one. Hawaii's PHC law predates the ACA by decades and operates independently of it.

Employers that operate in Hawaii alongside other states must track two additional compliance obligations — TDI eligibility and PHC threshold — that do not exist outside Hawaii. The TDI figures are reviewed annually (DCD bulletin, each December); the PHC wage threshold moves whenever the Hawaii minimum wage does.

Cross-links

• Hawaii minimum wage calculator — the $16.00/hr rate used to derive the PHC threshold; rises to $18.00 on January 1, 2028.
• Hawaii overtime calculator — weekly overtime under HRS Chapter 387.

What this does not determine

• Whether a particular employee or employer is exempt from HRS Chapters 392 or 393 (e.g., domestic workers, certain agricultural workers, sole proprietors, partners).
• Whether a plan already in place qualifies as an "equivalent plan" under HRS Chapter 393.
• The insurer-specific premium amount — this calculator does not know the actual premium; it only checks eligibility thresholds and the 1.5% contribution cap.
• TDI waiting period waivers, aggregate 26-week benefit maximum, or coordination with workers' compensation.
• Federal ACA obligations, COBRA continuation, or HIPAA portability — separate federal frameworks apply alongside Hawaii's state mandates.
• Multi-state employer situations where employees split time between Hawaii and other states.

Sources and verification

TDI figures (benefit rate, maximum weekly benefit, wage base, employee deduction cap) are sourced from the Hawaii DCWP/DCD 2026 Maximum Weekly Wage Base bulletin (PDF), effective January 1, 2026. These are annually-set figures that change each January when the DCD publishes a new bulletin. Prepaid Health Care eligibility rules are sourced from the Highlights of the Hawaii Prepaid Health Care Law (DLIR, Rev. 06/2026, PDF). The wage threshold is the formula stated in that document — "86.67 times the Hawaii minimum hourly wage per month" — applied to the current minimum wage from the Hawaii DLIR minimum wage page.

The derived monthly wage threshold shown on this page ($1386.72/month as of January 1, 2026) is computed at page-render time from the multiplier (86.67) and the live minimum wage ($16.00/hr). It is not a hardcoded dollar figure and will update automatically when the minimum wage changes. The calculator JS reads both values from data- attributes set by this page from the registry — no dollar constant is embedded in the script. Automated tests confirm the round-up rule, the $7.50 deduction cap, and that the PHC threshold is derived rather than hardcoded.