Permanent Partial Disability Settlement Amount

Employers owe certain duties to their employees. These include creating and maintaining safe work spaces and adequate training to ensure workers carry out their duties efficiently and safely. 

Still, despite the best of intentions, accidents can occur at work. For this reason, there is a workman’s compensation in place. 

The Georgia workman’s compensation law requires every business with three or more employees to get workers’ compensation. This law applies to businesses with part-time, seasonal, and part-time employees. One of the benefits an employee can receive under the worker’s compensation cover is a settlement for Permanent Partial Disability.

What Is A Permanent Partial Disability?

Permanent Partial Disabilities are injuries that allow the affected employee to work, though not as efficiently, or as effectively, or for as many hours as they were able to work before the injury. 

Under workman’s compensation, an injury is permanent when:

• The employee’s condition is not expected to improve with the currently available technology and treatment

• The injured worker requires palliative care

• The employee suffers a physical or mental impairment that prevents the individual from performing tasks they could previously do

An example is an employee who suffers a back injury from work. The employee recovers and resumes work, though his back injury prevents him from lifting heavy loads permanently.

In this case, the employee hasn’t suffered complete disablement. Still, the back injury is not expected to resolve fully, meaning he can only stick to light lifting. This means he has to accept a lesser workload at lower pay. 

Such an employee qualifies for Permanent Partial disability benefits because the condition is permanent, and they can only make a fraction of what they could earn before the injury. 

Other examples of permanent partial injuries include the following:

• Amputation of particular body parts

• Carpal tunnel syndrome

• Nerve damage

• Partial hearing loss

• Loss of sight in one eye

• Cardiovascular of respiratory diseases

• Depression

• Knee injuries

• Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

What Permanent Partial Disability Benefits Are Available?

When you suffer a permanent partial disability at work, you are entitled to a settlement from your employer’s workman’s compensation. However, we don’t have a standard amount for all injuries. This is because injuries vary in degree and severity and in the extent to which they affect the victim. 

As such, a permanent impairment rating is used to categorize injuries and settlement benefits. 

The first thing to do after an injury is to get medical treatment. Once you have reached your maximum medical improvement (MMI), a doctor will assess your condition and determine your degree of impairment. 

The Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI) means you have reached a stage where your medical condition cannot improve. Remember that one of the elements of a permanent partial disability is that your condition reaches a point where it cannot get any better with the available treatment and medical technology. 

Your authorized physician (very likely to be your workman’s compensation doctor) will assign a percentage of body function loss. This gives you a permanent partial disability rating. This rating is specific to the injured part of the body.

Different Ratings and What They Mean

Georgia’s worker’s compensation law has 14 types of permanent partial disability ratings. This preemptive law defines each rating by the number of weeks payable for total disability (100%) to each body part. 

On the other hand, your assigned physician at MMI will give his rating as a percentage. The actual settlement you get will be adjusted to calculate the actual settlement owed to you. 

Let’s look at the 14 types of partial disabilities and the weeks awarded to each. 

• Arm: 225 weeks

• Leg: 225 weeks

• Hand: 160 weeks

• Foot: 135 weeks

• Thumb: 60 weeks

• Index finger: 40 weeks

• Middle finger: 35 weeks

• Ring finger: 30 weeks

• Little finger: 25 weeks

• Great toe: 30 weeks

• Any toe besides the great tow: 20 weeks

• Traumatic hearing loss: 75 weeks per ear

• Vision loss in one eye: 150 weeks

• Body as a whole: 300 weeks

Because the above are for total disability, you would get the above for whichever body part if you lost 100% function. 

So, if you lost your ring finger completely, you would get 30 weeks of compensation because Georgia awards 30 weeks for 100% impairment of the ring finger.   

Using the above, the maximum settlements would be as follows:

• Arm: 225 weeks – $163,125

• Leg: 225 weeks – $ 163,125

• Hand: 160 weeks – $ 116, 000

• Foot: 135 weeks – $ 97, 875

• Thumb: 60 weeks – $ 43,500

• Index finger: 40 weeks – $ 29,000

• Middle finger: 35 weeks – $ 25,375

• Ring finger: 30 weeks – $ 21,750

• Little finger: 25 weeks – $ 14,500

• Great toe: 30 weeks – $21,750

• Any toe besides the great tow: 20 weeks – $ 14, 750

• Traumatic hearing loss: 75 weeks per ear – $ 54, 375

• Vision loss in one eye: 150 weeks – $ 108, 750

• Neck/back: 300 weeks – $ 217, 500

But, most impairments are less than 100%.

Calculating Settlements With Assigned Rating

Thankfully, most injuries leave you with less than 100% disability. 

Your physician gives you a rating, and when this is lower than 100%, you receive a percentage of the maximum weeks of benefits. 

So, let’s say you hurt your leg at work. The assigned number of weeks is 225 for 100% impairment. 

Now, say your doctor, after treatment, gives your injury a 15% rating. The 15% rating gives you 15% of the 225 weeks of benefits. The computation gives us 33 weeks of permanent partial disability benefits for the 15% rating.

How much are you talking about here?

The actual amount paid depends on the value of your workman’s compensation check. 

In this case, let’s assume your workman’s check came to $500 per week. We would multiply your rating by this amount. 

So we would have $500 × 33 weeks = $16,500

This same formula applies when calculating payments for injuries to the body as a whole. 

Another thing to note is that you can contest the assigned rating from the workman’s compensation physician. Sometimes, people get a rating they feel is incorrect. 

Should you get a rating you feel is inaccurate, you can contest it by filing a Form WC-14 requesting a hearing. 

Some might think accepting the checks means they legally agree with the rating. This is not true. You can take some or all permanent partial disability checks and still disagree with the rating. 

What Happens If You Hold Two Jobs?

Some people hold two concurrent jobs. So what happens if one is injured at one job? 

In such scenarios, the formulae for calculating settlements change a bit. In instances where an employee is able to resume either job, Georgia Law allows wages from both employers to be used in computing settlement. 

However, this is allowable in comparable roles. For example, if a worker is a cleaner at a bank and a cleaner at a restaurant, these jobs are similar, even with different employers. 

As for the calculation, if the person above earns $300 cleaning for the bank and $250 cleaning at the restaurant, their average weekly wage would be $550. 

On the other hand, stipulations exist for people who have been at a job for a short while. For example, what if you work for less than 13 weeks, are unsalaried, and get injured? In this instance, your Average Weekly Wage will be based on an employee’s wage in a comparative role. 

For How Long Are These Benefits Paid?

When the workers’ insurance company begins making the payments, they can make the payments in two ways:

• Payments on a weekly basis

• Make one payment in a lump sum

It’s uncommon for insurers to make lump sum payments, and most people will get weekly payments. 

Regardless of how the payments are made, however, the payments in themselves do not settle or end your case. 

To settle a workman’s compensation case, the following events have to happen:

1. You must sign paperwork agreeing to settle your case for a stipulated amount.
2. An insurance company representative must sign the same paperwork.
3. A judge attached to the Georgia State Board of Worker’s Compensation must approve the settlement paperwork.

When an insurance company pays you for a permanent partial disability, it’s paying something it owes you. This differs from settlement. A settlement is when you agree to give up your case in exchange for money. 

Statute of Limitations on Permanent Partial Disability

In Georgia, you have one year from the date of your accident to make a workman’s compensation claim. 

Similarly, there are timelines within which you must contest an erroneous rating and seek a more appropriate compensation package. 

We Are Here To Help

The period soon after suffering an injury can be pretty tumultuous. This is not the time to worry about insurers, filling out our numerous forms, statutes, court deadlines, and not being lowballed. 

Instead, let us handle your compensation as you focus on treatment and recovery. We know what and when to file, how to assess your rating, and negotiate settlements so you get the best offer possible. Just what you need after your ordeal. Talk to us today.