How Does a Permanent Disability Rating Affect a Final Work Injury Settlement?

How Does a Permanent Disability Rating Affect a Final Work Injury Settlement?

A finding of permanent disability can impact your workers’ compensation settlement significantly. Learn how a workers’ compensation lawyer can best maximize your benefits.

Our jobs here in Greater Los Angeles let us provide for our families, pay for education, go see a ballgame at Dodger Stadium, or take in the latest Hollywood blockbuster. If you’ve been injured in a workplace accident, however, all of this can be at stake.

Serious injuries necessitate serious finances to secure your medical treatment and to make up for your inability to work, pay your bills and engage in your daily activities. After your workplace injury has stabilized (known as “permanent and stationary”), it is vital to go through a process to determine your permanent disability rating from 0 to 100 percent. This rating determines the amount of your disability payments. It’s something a greedy insurance company rather not do, which is why it’s so important to have an aggressive Los Angeles workers’ compensation lawyer that will fight for you.

Factors Affecting Your Permanent Disability Rating

• Your age
• The date of your injury (for example, if injured before January 1, 2013)
• Your occupation and job duties
• The type of injury to each specific body part
• Your ability or inability to compete in a fair job market with your disability
• What kind of work you can and cannot do with your disability

In 2012, Senate Bill 863 changed the way permanent disability was assessed and increased the maximum weekly and monthly payouts. In our 30+ years of fighting for the rights of injured workers, however, we find that your medical and financial benefits must be constantly battled for. No one is looking to hand you anything, even when you’re entitled to it. Powerful insurance companies are more concerned about their own fiscal health and less about your personal health.

Seeking Help With Your Disability Claim

For example, even after you’ve demanded a permanent disability rating and report, it’s often the case that conservative doctors fail to adequately assess the entirety of your disability. In this instance, you need a skilled Los Angeles employment lawyer to analyze the report, object to it, and then help get you a second opinion. We will fight to ensure justice has been done.

The Dominguez Firm has experienced workers’ compensation lawyers to assist and get you the compensation you deserve. If there is no recovery, there is no fee! Call now for a free consultation at 800-818-1818.