You may be eligible for permanent disability benefits if you have lasting impairment as a result of your work injury after your condition has become stable, or “permanent and stationary.” 

In California, permanent disability benefits are monetary payments.  The amount of the payments is based on your average weekly earnings up to a maximum amount per week for most injuries (for example, $160 to $290 per week for most 2023 injuries). The length of the payments depends upon the severity of the impairment.  For very minor permanent impairments, the benefits may last as little as 3 weeks.  For more severe impairments, the payments can last for years. And in very rare cases of extremely severe impairment, the benefits can last for a person’s lifetime. 

The severity of the impairment is usually determined by an evaluating physician, who is either a Qualified Medical Evaluator (QME) selected from a panel provided by the State of California, or a physician agreed to between the parties, called an Agreed Medical Evaluator (AME).  However, your primary treating physician can also provide the evaluation for permanent impairment, subject to either party’s right to obtain a panel QME. 

The evaluation of your level of impairment by the QME, AME, or primary treating physician is called a “rating.”  It is based upon your ability to perform activities of daily living.  If the evaluating physician determines that you have lasting impairment, they will assign a number value for each condition of impairment. A higher rating means a more severe impairment. (However, for most psychological evaluations, this is reversed, and a higher rating by the physician or psychologist means less impairment). 

After your rating by the evaluating physician, the rating is adjusted for non-medical factors such as your age and occupation, to determine your level of “Permanent Disability,” which is expressed as a number from 1 to 100, or a “percentage.” The rating of the impairment is ultimately expressed as a number of weeks for which you will be paid benefits. As stated above, very minor impairments may only provide benefits for a few weeks, while benefits for severe impairments can last for years. 

Again, permanent impairment may only be evaluated after your condition becomes stable, or permanent and stationary. For this reason, these benefits can only be available after your first potential period of eligibility for temporary disability benefits has ended, because temporary disability ends when you are permanent and stationary.  In short, temporary disability benefits can only be before you become permanent and stationary and permanent disability benefits can only be after you become permanent and stationary. 

The process of determining Permanent Disability benefits can be very complex, especially for conditions causing severe impairment.    

A workers’ compensation attorney can help you navigate the process for permanent disability benefits and help to ensure that you are receiving the correct amount and duration of permanent disability payments.  An attorney can also help you formulate questions and advocate on your behalf if you believe that you have received an insufficient evaluation or rating of your permanent disability.