Permanent Disability ("PD") is a percentage ultimately assigned to each injured worker who pursues a claim beyond "medical only." It can range from 0% to 100%.
Thanks to "reforms" during the Schwarzenegger Administration, permanent disability was reduced by 60% over and above the reduction intended by the Legislature through SB 899 in 2004. The total reduction was 75%, according to this
press release.
In an editorial in
January 2012, David J. DePaolo, founder, chief executive officer
and editor-in-chief of WorkCompCentral, wrote: "One of the
stated purposes of the 2004 reform laws that instituted a new
permanent disability rating system based on the AMA Guides 5th
edition was to promote uniformity and predictability.
About the only thing that is really uniform and predictable is
that if an injured worker does not have an attorney then that
injured worker will get significantly less money as
compensation."
"Apportionment to causation" required by
Labor
Code Section 4663 is usually
unscientific and illogical. See my article,
Apportionment: Science or Science Fiction? Bills sent to the
Governor that would exempt
from consideration race, religious creed, color, national origin,
age, gender, marital status,
sex, sexual orientation, or genetic characteristics were vetoed by
two Governors. Read Governor's
veto message. So, even though such apportionment is
"antithetical" to California's non-discrimination policies, it
continues as to be "permissible and required by the principle that
apponionment is based on causation."
Coupled with the elimination of
vocational rehabilitation, injured workers are left with little to help get back on their feet. Without legal assistance, the worker is likely to receive a paltry amount based solely on the tables in the AMA Guides, as assigned by a
Qualified Medical Evaluator whose report may miss key elements of disability.
The lawyer's role is to help injured workers get what they are entitled to, using knowledge of law, medicine, and vocational matters not accessible to the lay public. The following articles may interest you:
