Estimate your workers' compensation permanent disability award — based on your average weekly wage and your impairment rating.
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When a work injury leaves you with lasting impairment, workers' compensation pays a permanent disability (PD) benefit. The amount comes from two things: how much you earned before the injury (your average weekly wage), and how serious the permanent impairment is (your disability rating, expressed as a percentage).
Three pieces drive the number:
Your PD weekly rate is generally about two-thirds of your average weekly wage, subject to minimum and maximum caps that every state sets differently. Higher earners hit the cap; lower earners are lifted to the floor.
The official rating reflects how much function you've permanently lost. Higher ratings convert into more weeks of benefits — and the weeks-per-percent generally rise as the rating climbs, so severe injuries are weighted more heavily.
Each state publishes its own schedule converting a rating into a set number of benefit weeks, and sets its own rate caps. The same rating can produce very different awards in different states.
It's a general, representative estimate to give you a ballpark. Every state has its own permanent-disability schedule and rate caps, and the official rating can be adjusted for age, occupation, and apportionment. For an exact figure, speak with a workers' comp attorney.
It's a percentage that describes how much permanent function you've lost from the injury. A physician assigns an impairment rating, which is then adjusted under your state's rules into the final permanent-disability rating used to calculate benefits.
Generally about two-thirds of your average weekly wage, but every state applies a minimum and a maximum. If two-thirds of your wage is above the cap, you receive the cap; if it's below the floor, you're raised to the minimum.
Not exactly. Permanent disability is one component of a workers' comp case. A settlement may combine PD with future medical care and other benefits. Use a settlement estimator to see the bigger picture, and talk to an attorney before settling.
This calculator provides a general, simplified estimate for educational purposes only. It is not legal advice and does not reflect any specific state's workers' compensation schedule. No attorney-client relationship is formed by using this tool.
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