Disability Payment

After an employee who is injured on the job has recovered as much as possible (doctors will say he has reached maximum medical improvement or MMI), the employee's wage benefits stop, and the doctor will assign the employee a whole-person impairment rating.

A whole person impairment rating is the percentage that a doctor believes an employee will be permanently injured or impaired for the rest of his life. In determining the rating, doctors must use a book written by the Utah Labor Commission, called the Utah Impairment Guides. For example, injured backs (that do not require surgery) injured shoulders, and injured knees usually receive between a 3% and 7% whole person impairment rating. Back surgery automatically qualifies a person for a 10% whole person impairment rating, plus more percentage points depending upon what the surgery accomplished.

Once a doctor assigns an injured employee a whole person impairment rating, the workers' compensation insurance company must pay the employee for that impairment. This benefit is called permanent partial disability, or PPD.

To calculate the PPD benefit, multiply 312 (the number of weeks the Utah Legislature has determined a person to be worth) by the doctor's whole person impairment rating. That gives the number of weeks for which a person is entitled to be paid for injuring himself permanently but not totally. Then, multiply the number of weeks by 67% of the employee's average weekly wage (or the maximum weekly amount allowed by law, which ever is less), to calculate the disability payment.

For example, if a doctor gives an employee a 10% whole person impairment rating, the employee is entitled to be paid for 31.2 weeks (312x.10=31.2 weeks). If the employee makes $10 per hour, 40 hours per week, then 67% of his average weekly wage is $266.80 ($10x40x.667=$266.80). Thus, the employee's permanent partial disability payment is $8,324.16 (31.2 weeks x $266.80= $8,324.16).

Important Tip: Choose your own doctor! Most often, doctors recommended by your insurance company or the adjuster work for them, not for you. Under Utah law, you have the right to change doctors one time—to a doctor that you choose. The doctor you choose tells the insurance company whether or not you have a whole person impairment rating and how much it is.