An injured federal worker may be assigned a permanent disability rating if the treating physician, during diagnosis, discovers that the worker cannot go back to work at all in a federal capacity or in any other industry. While this is disheartening for those injured workers or those who may have sustained an occupational illness that becomes chronic, it is something that should not make your life come to a screeching halt: thanks to FECA, you are entitled to benefits that will go a long way in helping you take care of yourself for the foreseeable future until retirement, when your retirement benefits kick in.
Need to talk to OWCP attorneys for help with permanent disability compensation for injured federal workers? Please contact us TODAY at 1-855-233-3002 for more information on your legal options for compensation. For over two decades, we’ve helped hundreds of injured postal workers get and keep their injured federal worker benefits and even represented them during appeals in order to reinstate their benefits. Don’t go it alone, and don’t waste time with law firms that handle multiple cases at once, denying your case the personalized attention it needs: contact us NOW at 1-855-233-3002 to receive timely legal assistance so you can receive federal workers’ compensation benefits in the shortest amount of time possible.
OWCP Impairment Rating for Permanent Disability
Permanent disability rating, also known as permanent impairment rating is an assessment of the extent of your permanent injury or illness. This is usually a percentage, and it is vital when it comes to determining how much you will receive as compensation for injured postal or other federal workers. After your initial diagnosis and treatment for your injury or occupational illness, you will undergo another exam once you’ve reached maximum medical improvement, which means that your health condition is not going to get better even with further treatment or as the months and years go by.
OWCP Impairment Rating Doctor
Evaluating or diagnosing permanent disability in injured federal workers is something most physicians are uncomfortable doing; instead, they may refer you to an independent medical examiner who has extensively seen injured federal workers and evaluated injured postal workers just like you in order to give you an assessment of the same.
Permanent Disability Tests for Injured Federal Workers
In order to assign the permanent disability rating, you will be required to perform actions that closely simulate what you do on a regular basis as a federal worker; if you are an injured USPS worker, you may be asked to pick items off a table that’s about hip height or lower to determine if your knee injury is permanent for example. These tests are not intimidating as there are no needles or the drawing of blood.
OWCP Doctors and Permanent Impairment Rating
Once these tests are done and dusted, the physician or independent medical examiner will refer to a chart provided by the AMA and Department of Labor so they can accurately assign you an impairment rating. If you have consequential injuries whereby an injury on your arm, for example, makes it hard for you to use your shoulder or vice versa, the medical examiner will assign different percentages to each affected part, and at the end, you will be assigned a whole body impairment percentage which will range from zero to one hundred percent.
Permanent impairment rating evaluation takes into account things like future earning capacity, your age, and your work duties in order to come up with an accurate percentage. It is important to note that the compensation you will receive due to permanent disability will only be available to you once you reach MMI, or maximum medical improvement, and not earlier than that. Permanent Partial Disability is usually provided to people who can still work but in a different capacity or environment within federal government, and it is calculated as the difference between your current wage in your new position and the pay prior to your disability.
Injured Federal Worker Attorneys – Call Us Today!
Need more information on how these calculations are done, or do you need help navigating the complex legal waters of OWCP permanent impairment ratings and compensation? Let us streamline the whole process for you and provide you with access to knowledgeable physicians: contact us TODAY at 1-855-233-3002 to learn more about your legal options. Thanks, and we look forward to hearing from you.