Depending on your work injury, you may be eligible for a number of different types of disability payments. For a general overview of the types of disability benefits in Minnesota, click here. In this blog, we’ll be taking a deeper look at one type of disability benefit – permanent partial disability.
As the name implies, permanent partial disability provides injury benefits after a worker suffers an injury that they will never fully recover from. In other words, the injury is permanent and it provides them with a partial disability. This is the most common type of work injury, accounting for about half of all work injuries. Below, we take a closer look at permanent partial disability payments in Minnesota.
PPD Benefits In Minnesota
Injuries that result in permanent partial disability payments never fully heal. While they may not force the worker to find a new job, they can limit their earnings potential or make employment or daily life more difficult. Examples of work injuries that could be compensated by PPD benefits include:
- Hearing loss
- Carpal tunnel syndrome
- Loss of a finger or hand
- Vision loss
- Significant nerve damage
Not all PPD injuries can be laid out here, but that’s mainly because there are countless examples of permanent partial disability injuries. In short, if your body will never be the same or you will never recover to pre-injury levels, you may be eligible for PPD benefits in Minnesota.
Payment is calculated based on a couple of different factors. Once you’ve made as full a recovery as possible, a medical evaluator will assign you a disability rating. The higher your disability rating, the more compensation that will be available to you through PPD benefits, however this also means that your injuries are more extensive. Your disability rating will be given based on your total body health. You can learn more about how disability ratings are calculated based on which areas of the body they occur in by clicking on this link. For example, you can look at the eye injuries page on that link and learn that permanent vision loss in both eyes would result in an 85 percent disability rating.
Next, you need to apply your disability rating to the fee schedule on this page. If we stick with the same example we used above with an 85 percent disability rating for double eye vision loss, the employee would be entitled to $383,300 in permanent partial disability benefits. This is on top of other benefits you might receive for your injuries.
One of the main issues that people run into with their employer’s insurance company when attempting to collect PPD benefits is when the other side disputes your rating. Let’s say you suffered a spinal disc injury and your doctor gave you a 15 percent disability rating. Your employer’s insurance company, on the other hand, believes your disability rating is more like 7 percent. This means they will underpay your PPD benefits or simply refuse to pay out benefits until they get a ruling about your disability rating. Challenging and proving your rating in court can be difficult, but it helps to have a lawyer by your side.
At Hey Workers, we’ve helped a number of injured workers collect the permanent partial disability benefits they are entitled to receive after a life changing work accident. We can also help to prove your disability rating in the event that the insurance company disputes your disability rating and tries to underpay your claim.
A permanent partial disability will affect you for the rest of your life, so make sure you are appropriately compensated. The best way to do that is with a worker’s compensation lawyer by your side. For more information about applying for PPD benefits, or for assistance with your injury case, reach out to the experienced team of injury lawyers at Hey Workers at (844) 439-9675 today.
