Managing Employee Injuries and Disability and Occupational Safety

11. P ERMANENT P ARTIAL D ISABILITY

Weekly Benefit

1-1-06 to 12-31-12

Min. Max.

1:0 to 69:3 $130 $230 70:0 to 99.75 $130 $270

1-1-13 to 12-31-13

1:0 to 54:0 $160 $230 55:0 to 69:0 $160 $270 70:0 to 99 $160 $290

1-1-14

$160 $290

a. Rating Permanent Disability All permanent disabilities shall be rated to determine the appropriate level of compensation. Except for a few disabilities which are conclusively presumed to be total, disability is to be rated in accordance with a rating schedule established by the Division of Industrial Accidents, until January 1, 2005. b. Diminished Ability to Compete (for Injuries prior to 4-20-04, and for Injuries prior to 1-1-05, with a Medical Report Indicating Permanent Disability) The theory of diminished ability is that, although the injury may not prevent the particular worker from resuming his former work so that he gets his job back and suffers no loss of wages, he is less able to compete for new jobs, and does suffer a possible loss in future earning power. Example: a one-eyed man is at a disadvantage when competing with fully sighted individuals for employment. Therefore, the individual would be given a full rating even though he may be able to return to the same or similar job that he held at the time of the injury, until 4-19-04. c. Rating Schedule By statutory authority, the Administrative Director prepares and adopts an official rating schedule, based on accumulated data, and establishes the percentage of disability for a particular type of injury, in the case of an employee in a particular occupation and of a particular age. The schedule takes into consideration 1) the nature of the injury or disfigurement, 2) the occupation of the employee, 3) the employee’s age, and 4) the diminished ability of the injured employee to compete in the open labor market (until 4-19-04). Nonscheduled disabilities are evaluated by comparison.

Managing Employee Injuries, Disability and Occupational Safety ©2019 (s) Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 39