Scheduled Injuries Workers’ Compensation

Aug 29, 2024 | WC & Other Laws

Scheduled Injuries Workers’ Compensation – There are 2 categories of injuries that injured workers can sustain. The first is called “scheduled injury”, which deals with the arms, legs, hands, feet, toes, and extremities. The second is called “whole person injury”, which deals with the head, neck, back, and torso for the most part.

What’s the difference between scheduled injuries and whole-person injuries?

Scheduled injuries are paid out differently than whole-person injuries. Scheduled injuries are paid out less because there’s a different formula to calculate the compensation.

When a worker suffers an injury, that injury may very well result in physical impairment, and that impairment dictates the compensation to which the injured worker is entitled.

For instance, if you suffer a 10% impairment rating on your elbow you will get compensated between $5,200 to $5,300 for that 10%, however, if you were to suffer a 10% impairment rating either on your head, your neck, or your back, that 10% would be worth anywhere between $10,000 to $50,000 depending on your average weekly rage that you were earning at the time of the injury.

How can my benefits be affected by the kind of injury?

Insurance carriers encourage their providers to focus more on scheduled injuries than whole-person injuries because those are paid out at a lesser rate.

Also, some injuries are automatically thought of by the carriers to be scheduled, for example, a shoulder injury will automatically be considered scheduled, however, that isn’t normally the case, and more often than not a good attorney can convert it from a scheduled injury to a whole person injury, which ultimately will yield more compensation for the injured worker.

Another example is the hip, it is treated as a scheduled injury when in many cases it shouldn’t be, and that limits the benefits that an injured worker is entitled to.