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If you are an employee that has been injured and filed a North Carolina workers\u2019 compensation<\/a> claim, you may be entitled to permanent partial disability benefits which is also called “PPD.” \u00a0Since workers\u2019 compensation is administered by each state, the amount of compensation for permanent partial disability and how it is administered may vary.\u00a0 In North Carolina, an employee is entitled to permanent partial disability compensation if the injury sustained is considered a permanent injury but the loss of function to the injured body part is less than 100%.<\/p>\nA permanent disability means the employee does not have the same function to the injured body part that he had prior to the injury, and the employee is not expected to regain the pre-injury function in the future.\u00a0 In other words, that body part will not ever be the same.\u00a0 The degree of permanent partial disability or disability rating is determined by a medical doctor that has been treating the injured worker and is not based on the worker\u2019s opinion.\u00a0 Once the injured worker has reached maximum medical improvement, a disability rating of 0% to 100% is assigned by the physician.\u00a0 As a result, a strained muscle in the lower back that causes no permanent damage, a 0% disability rating based on the physician\u2019s opinion, would not be entitled to permanent partial disability.\u00a0 However, if the injury to the back resulted in compressed vertebra, the physician will likely assign a permanent disability rating to the back.\u00a0 For permanent partial disability, the rating will be between 1% and 99%.\u00a0 A 100% disability rating would result in permanent and total disability.<\/p>\n
It is also important to understand is that an employee entitled to permanent partial disability receives compensation regardless of whether the employee has the ability to work and earn a living in the future.\u00a0\u00a0 The idea behind permanent partial disability is to compensate the injured employee for the permanent loss of the body part that was injured.\u00a0 Compensation for permanent partial disability is based on 66.67% or 2\/3 of the of the injured employee\u2019s average weekly wage over the past twelve months.\u00a0 If the employee has worked for the employer less than twelve months, the period of time worked is used but exceptions may apply.\u00a0 The maximum weekly compensation is limited to $862 in 2012 based on the North Carolina Industrial Commission<\/a>.<\/p>\n Another component of permanent partial disability compensation is the body part that is injured.\u00a0 Each major area of the body is assigned a number of weeks based on North Carolina General Statute 97-31<\/a>.\u00a0 The number of weeks compensated ranges from 10 weeks for a toe to 300 weeks for a back.<\/p>\n The components considered in a permanent partial disability are the employee\u2019s average weekly wage, the body part injured, the number of weeks assigned to that body part and the disability rating assigned to that body part.\u00a0 The best way to demonstrate compensation for permanent partial disability is by example.\u00a0 In our scenario, we will assume the following for the injured worker.<\/p>\n