Not every workplace injury leaves an employee completely unable to work. Many workers recover enough to return to their jobs, yet still carry a permanent loss of function from their injury, whether it’s a hand that no longer grips fully or a knee that will never bend the way it once did.
For these workers, Washington, DC’s workers’ compensation system provides Permanent Partial Disability (PPD) benefits.
What Is Permanent Partial Disability (PPD)?
Permanent Partial Disability describes a lasting impairment that reduces a worker’s function but does not leave them permanently and totally disabled. In other words, the worker has suffered a permanent loss, but not a complete one.
Receiving a PPD award does not necessarily mean the worker cannot return to work; many employees collect PPD benefits while continuing their careers, sometimes in the same job they held before the work injury in Washington, DC.
When Does a Worker Become Eligible for PPD Benefits?
Eligibility for PPD benefits doesn’t begin the moment an injury happens. A worker generally becomes eligible after several conditions are met.
- Reaching Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI)
- Completing medical treatment for the injury
- A physician determines a permanent impairment remains
- The impairment is related to the workplace injury
Once these conditions are satisfied, the degree of impairment can be measured and the value of the benefit determined.
What Is Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI)?
Maximum Medical Improvement is the point at which a worker’s condition has stabilized and is not expected to improve further with additional treatment. MMI does not mean a person has fully recovered. It simply means the healing process has plateaued, and whatever impairment remains is likely permanent.
That’s why physicians generally wait until MMI before assigning a permanent impairment rating. Evaluating a worker too early would measure an injury that’s still changing.
How Is Permanent Partial Disability Evaluated in Washington, DC?
Once a worker reaches MMI, a physician conducts a medical evaluation and assigns a permanent impairment rating, typically expressed as a percentage of lost function. In Washington, DC, these evaluations generally rely on the American Medical Association (AMA) Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, which provide standardized criteria for measuring loss of function.
How Are PPD Benefits Paid in Washington, DC?
PPD benefits are paid at 66 2/3% of the worker’s average weekly wage. How long those payments last depends on the body part affected, the degree of permanent impairment, and whether the injury falls under DC’s scheduled award system.
What Is a Scheduled Award?
DC law assigns a specific number of weeks of compensation depending on the body part that is permanently lost or permanently impaired. Rather than negotiating the value of each injury from scratch, the schedule decides:
- Arm: 312 weeks of compensation
- Leg: 288 weeks of compensation
- Hand: 244 weeks of compensation
- Foot: 205 weeks of compensation
- Eye: 160 weeks of compensation
- Thumb: 75 weeks of compensation
- First finger (index finger): 46 weeks of compensation
- Great toe: 38 weeks of compensation
- Second finger: 30 weeks of compensation
- Third finger: 25 weeks of compensation
- Fourth finger: 15 weeks of compensation
- Other toe: 16 weeks of compensation
- Complete hearing loss in one ear: 52 weeks of compensation
- Complete hearing loss in both ears: 200 weeks of compensation
A worker who permanently loses an arm, for example, would receive 312 weeks of compensation paid at 66 2/3% of their average weekly wage.
Partial Loss of Use
A permanent partial loss of use results in a proportionate award rather than the full scheduled amount. If a worker has a 25% permanent loss of use of an arm, they generally receive 25% of the 312-week award, or 78 weeks of compensation, paid at 66 2/3% of their average weekly wage.
Disfigurement
The schedule isn’t limited to lost function. For serious disfigurement of the face, head, or neck that is likely to affect the worker’s employment, DC law allows up to $7,500 in additional compensation.
Other Organs
For the permanent loss or loss of use of certain other important external or internal organs not listed on the schedule, compensation of up to 312 weeks may be available, depending on the determination made in the worker’s case.
Pre-Existing Conditions
A prior injury doesn’t disqualify a worker from PPD benefits, but it can affect the award. If there is evidence of a pre-existing impairment, DC law allows the impairment rating to be apportioned using the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, so that only the work-related portion of the impairment is compensated. Reach out to our injury attorneys in Washington, DC for a free case evaluation at (202) 919-5453.