What is a permanent disability rating and how is it calculated?
By Law Office of Jesse Melendrez
· 8 min read
A permanent disability rating is a percentage that estimates how much a work injury limits the kinds of work you can do or your ability to earn a living. It sets the amount of your permanent disability (PD) benefits. In California, the rating starts with a doctor’s impairment number under the AMA Guides, 5th edition. For injuries in 2013 or later, that number is multiplied by 1.4 and adjusted for your occupation and age under the 2005 rating schedule. Then it is reduced for any share of the disability caused by something other than the job.
The final percentage converts into a set number of weeks of payments. For injuries from 2014 through 2026, the weekly PD rate runs from $160 to $290 (DWC benefits table, read October 8, 2026).
When does a permanent disability rating happen?
A rating happens after your doctor finds your condition permanent and stationary (P&S), meaning it is no longer improving or getting worse. The DWC also calls this maximal medical improvement (MMI). The 2005 rating schedule describes it as a condition “well stabilized and unlikely to change substantially in the next year with or without medical treatment.”
Your primary treating physician, the doctor in charge of your care, then writes a P&S report. The DWC guidebook says it should describe your medical problems, work restrictions, the care you may need later, whether you can return to your old job, and how much of the disability the job caused compared with other factors. If either side disputes the report, a qualified medical evaluator (QME) or agreed medical evaluator (AME) examines you and writes a medical-legal report.
What is whole person impairment?
Whole person impairment (WPI) is the doctor’s measure of how much the injury affects normal daily activities, as a percentage of the whole body. For injuries on or after January 1, 2013, Labor Code 4660.1(b) bases the rating on the impairment descriptions and percentages in the AMA Guides, 5th edition. The DWC guidebook says the doctor’s methods must follow those guides.
Impairment is a medical number. Disability is what that impairment means for your ability to work, and the rest of the formula measures disability (DWC Fact Sheet D).
How does the 1.4 adjustment work?
For injuries in 2013 or later, the WPI is multiplied by 1.4 (Labor Code 4660.1(b)). That factor replaced the “future earning capacity” adjustment the 2005 schedule used for earlier injuries. The DIR publishes a chart with the results already rounded. A WPI of 10 becomes 14, 20 becomes 28, and 50 becomes 70.
The DWC guidebook gives two examples before any age or occupation adjustment. Total loss of vision in one eye rates 28 percent for a 2013 or later injury. Losing an index finger at the middle joint rates 11 percent.
How do your job and your age change the number?
The 2005 schedule sorts the labor market into 45 occupational groups, each with a three-digit number. One table matches the impairment with your group to produce an “occupational variant,” a letter from C to J, where F means average demands on the injured body part. A second table raises or lowers the rating for that letter.
Age on the date of injury comes last, from another table. Labor Code 4660.1(a) requires both adjustments. Until the DWC adopts new modifiers, injuries in 2013 or later use the 2005 occupation and age tables (4660.1(d)).
What is apportionment?
Apportionment removes the part of the permanent disability caused by something other than the work injury. Under Labor Code 4663, the doctor must estimate what approximate percentage the work injury caused and what percentage other factors caused, before and after the injury, including earlier work injuries. A report that skips this step is not complete on permanent disability (4663(c)).
Labor Code 4664(a) then limits the employer’s liability to the share the work injury directly caused. A prior permanent disability award is conclusively presumed to still exist (4664(b)). A worker must also disclose earlier permanent disabilities or physical impairments on request (4663(d)).
What if more than one body part is hurt?
Separate ratings are combined, not added. The 2005 schedule uses the formula a + b(1 - a), so ratings of 25 percent and 15 percent combine to 36 percent, not 40. With three or more ratings, the two largest are combined first, the result is rounded to a whole percent, and then the next largest is combined with it.
How does the rating turn into weekly payments?
Each rating converts to a fixed number of weeks of payments under Labor Code 4658(e). For a 2013 or later injury, each percent up to 9.75 is worth 3 weeks and each percent from 10 to 14.75 is worth 4. The count climbs in steps to 16 weeks for each percent from 70 to 99.75. The weeks add up range by range. The weekly rate depends on your date of injury and your wages before the injury, within a floor and a ceiling.
| Date of injury | PD rating | Lowest weekly rate | Highest weekly rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 through 2026 | 1 to 99 percent | $160 | $290 |
| 2013 | 1 to 54 percent | $160 | $230 |
| 2013 | 55 to 69 percent | $160 | $270 |
| 2013 | 70 to 99 percent | $160 | $290 |
Source: DWC, Workers’ compensation benefits, table for injuries on or after January 1 of each year, read October 8, 2026.
What does a worked example look like?
Every number in this example is hypothetical. The occupation and age steps are invented to show the order of the math. Real ones come from the schedule’s tables. It is not an estimate for any real claim.
| Step | Hypothetical number | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Doctor’s WPI | 10 percent | AMA Guides, 5th ed.; LC 4660.1(b) |
| 1.4 adjustment, 2026 injury | 14 percent | DIR 1.4 chart |
| Occupation adjustment | 16 percent (invented) | 2005 schedule, section 5 |
| Age adjustment | 15 percent (invented) | 2005 schedule, section 6 |
| Apportionment: doctor finds 20 percent from other causes | 12 percent | LC 4663, 4664 |
| Weeks for a 12 percent rating | 38.25 weeks (9.75 × 3 plus 2.25 × 4) | LC 4658(e) |
| Weekly rate, if wages put it at the ceiling | $290 | DIR table, 2026 |
| Total over the payment period | $11,092.50 | 38.25 × $290 |
When do permanent disability payments start?
If you were receiving temporary disability (TD) wage-loss payments, the first PD payment is due within 14 days after the last TD payment. Payments then continue every two weeks (Labor Code 4650(b) and (c)). The claims administrator pays on its reasonable estimate before the final rating is known, and a late payment is increased by 10 percent (4650(d)).
Before an award, PD payments can wait if the employer offers a job paying at least 85 percent of your wages and compensation at the time of injury. They can also wait if you are working a job paying at least 100 percent. When the award is made, the amount due is figured from your last TD payment or your P&S date, whichever is earlier (4650(b)(2)).
Who calculates the rating, and what if you disagree?
The DWC’s Disability Evaluation Unit (DEU) writes formal ratings for judges, consultative ratings on litigated cases for attorneys and Information and Assistance (I&A) officers, and summary ratings on non-litigated cases at the request of a claims administrator or injured worker (DEU page). Orange County has DEU units in the DWC district offices in Santa Ana and Anaheim.
Without a lawyer, a QME report on permanent disability goes to the DWC. Its administrative director must calculate a rating within 20 days, and either side may ask for reconsideration within 30 days of the rating (Labor Code 4061(e) and (g)). With a lawyer, each side may calculate its own rating and negotiate. A workers’ compensation judge decides if they cannot agree (DWC guidebook, chapter 7).
What do people get wrong about permanent disability ratings?
“The rating is the doctor’s number.” The WPI is only the starting point. The 1.4 factor, occupation, age and apportionment follow.
“A 20 percent rating means 20 percent of my paycheck.” The percentage converts to weeks, paid at a weekly rate between $160 and $290 for 2014 through 2026 injuries.
“Going back to work ends PD.” The DWC guidebook says you don’t have to lose your job to be eligible for PD benefits. A job can change the timing under 4650(b)(2).
“Apportionment means the claim was denied.” It reduces the share the employer pays (4664(a)). It does not decide whether the injury happened at work.
Where does the Law Office of Jesse Melendrez fit in?
When we represent an injured worker in a rating dispute, Jesse Melendrez reviews the P&S or QME report against the schedule and the Labor Code. If the sides cannot agree, he takes the question to a workers’ compensation judge. Jesse (State Bar of California #263751, admitted 2009) limits his practice to California workers’ compensation and represents injured workers only.
This page explains how the system works. It is not legal advice about your claim, and it cannot tell you what your own rating will be.
What should you read next?
- The benefit page: Permanent disability benefits
- How a case closes: Stipulations vs. Compromise and Release
- The exam behind many ratings: What is a QME and what happens at the exam?
- Retraining after a permanent disability: The SJDB voucher and the Return-to-Work Supplement
Common questions
Can a psychiatric injury add to a physical injury rating?
For injuries on or after January 1, 2013, Labor Code 4660.1(c) says impairment ratings for sleep dysfunction, sexual dysfunction or psychiatric disorder that arise out of a compensable physical injury shall not increase. Two exceptions apply to a psychiatric disorder (4660.1(c)(2)): being the victim of a violent act or directly exposed to a significant violent act, and a catastrophic injury such as loss of a limb, paralysis, a severe burn or a severe head injury. The same section says treatment for those conditions is still available.
What is permanent total disability?
It is a rating of 100 percent. The DWC guidebook says ratings of 100 percent are very rare. The DIR benefits page says permanent total disability is paid for life at the temporary disability rate. For injuries on or after January 1, 2003, that rate is adjusted each year based on increases in the state average weekly wage. The 2005 rating schedule notes that some impairments are conclusively presumed to be totally disabling.
Can my rating change after my case settles?
It depends on how the case closes. The DWC guidebook explains that with Stipulations with Request for Award, either side can ask to change benefits if the condition gets worse or improves, usually within five years after the date of injury. Labor Code 5410 keeps the appeals board’s jurisdiction open for five years from the date of injury for new and further disability. A Compromise and Release pays a lump sum and closes the claim, so neither side can ask for a change later.
Does a job offer from my employer lower my permanent disability?
Not the amount, for an injury in 2013 or later. The DWC guidebook says the old rule, a 15 percent decrease or increase depending on whether the employer offered qualifying work, applies only to injuries from 2005 through 2012 at employers with 50 or more employees. For later injuries, a job offer can change when PD is paid before an award under Labor Code 4650(b)(2). It also decides whether the supplemental job displacement voucher is owed under Labor Code 4658.7.
Where this comes from
- DWC, Workers’ compensation benefits: rate table and 1.4 chart (read Oct. 8, 2026)
- DWC, Injured Worker Guidebook, Chapter 7: Permanent Disability Benefits (May 2024)
- Labor Code 4658: weeks of payments for each percent of permanent disability
- DWC, Schedule for Rating Permanent Disabilities (2005)
- Labor Code 4660.1: rating injuries on or after Jan. 1, 2013
- Labor Code 4663: apportionment based on causation
More on this topicPermanent disability ratings and payments
This article is general information about California workers’ compensation, not legal advice about your case.
