Permanent partial disability is among the top claims filed in Virginia. It is a situation when you can return to work after an injury. However, workplace injury has caused some permanent limitations in body movements, such as not being able to use or move a hand. If you are stuck in a similar situation, the injured workers law firm experts have prepared a comprehensive guide to help you secure your rights as an injured worker in such a scenario. Let us begin with it by first shedding some more light on what this disability is so you can understand it better.
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What Is Permanent Partial Disability
Simply put, permanent partial disability is a reduction in your work skills and efficiency as a result of a workplace injury, such as carpal tunnel syndrome, nerve damage, amputation, hearing loss, ankle injury, knee injury, leg injury, or any other injury of similar nature. The law has a formula for permanent partial disability benefits. To claim these benefits, you first need to obtain a PPD rating. Hence, the following sections of this article discuss the rating and benefit calculation processes.
How to Get a Permanent Partial Disability Rating
Generally expressed as percentages, an appointed doctor (also known as the rater) gives a permanent partial disability rating. They determine how an impaired body part limits your ability to work or perform certain functions. For instance, a disability rating of 50% for the lower back significantly impacts your capability to drive for extended hours, lift heavy objects, or bend over repeatedly. After the disability rating, below is how the benefits are determined.
How Are Permanent Partial Disability Benefits Calculated
A standard math formula is applied to calculate the benefits under a case of permanent partial disability. It is the multiplication of the rating percentage by two-thirds of your average wage and the number of weeks the VWC has assigned. Mathematically, it is represented as follows.
Permanent Partial Disability Benefits = Rating % * ⅔ rds of an injured worker’s average wages * the assigned number of weeks.
Note: The number of assigned weeks depends on the injured body part. Here are some compensation periods for various body parts.
- Hand: up to 150 weeks
- Thumb: up to 60 weeks
- Leg: up to 175 weeks
- Arm: up to 200 weeks
- Permanent vision loss in a single eye: 100 weeks
- Permanent hearing loss in one ear: 50 weeks
Also, note that several factors can impact your permanent partial disability benefits. Let us look at them one after the other in the following section of this article.
Factors Affecting Permanent Partial Disability Benefits
The following factors may impact the benefits an injured worker may get in the case of permanent partial disability.
Scheduled or non-scheduled injury
Injuries to scheduled body parts (for example, hands, arms, fingers, feet, and legs) have predetermined benefit duration and amounts. Whereas, the compensation for non-scheduled injuries is decided based on the injury’s impact.
Capacity to return to work
Whether or not the worker returns to the previous or new job is another factor affecting the permanent partial disability compensation.
Availability of evidence
Whether or not sufficient evidence (for example, detailed medical records) is available also impacts the compensation an injured worker with a permanent partial disability gets.
Employer’s workers’ compensation insurance
The policies your employer follows with respect to the workers’ compensation insurance also impact the benefits you can receive.
So, that was all about the permanent partial disability compensation. In case of any confusion or issues, we suggest you contact a competent lawyer to help secure your benefits.
Apart from that, if you are interested to know about Employment Lawyers Service in Canada then visit our Law category.
