Generally speaking, an injured employee suffers from a temporary disability if he cannot fully perform his job while recovering. As opposed to a permanent injury, the employee is expected to regain the ability to earn a living by performing his job. Usually, the employee is paid a percentage of his weekly wages during the recuperation process, with a specified period (e.g. 3 days) that must pass before such benefits will begin. A maximum weekly benefits amount is set by each state's Workers' Compensation Act.

A temporary disability can be partial or total. An employee's partial disability leaves him with the ability to work, but at less than his full income. With respect to a temporary "total" disability, the employee is unable to work at all but is expected to recover and continue gainful employment.

Permanent Disability

An employee is considered "permanently disabled" if his prognosis is such that he will never completely recover and will always be limited in his ability to work. A designation of permanent disability extends to other employment, not just the employment that resulted in the employee's injury.

Even though an employee is permanently disabled, he may not receive benefits equivalent to his lost income. Various factors contribute to the calculation of benefits -- the type of injury with corresponding medical condition, the employee's age at the time of injury, and the employee's occupation. A maximum payment amount is set by law and the employee can recover such amount either through weekly disbursements or a lump sum settlement payment.

As with temporary disabilities, a permanent disability can be either partial or total. Partial permanent disabilities can be either scheduled or unscheduled. Almost all states' Workers' Compensation Acts contain a schedule of benefits to be awarded for specified disabilities. For those specified disabilities, a pre-determined amount of benefits will be awarded for a set number of weeks regardless of the amount of the employee's lost earnings.

Temporary to Permanent Disability

In some instances, an employee's temporary disability will progress to one that is permanent. The line at which this occurs is known as the "Maximum Medical Improvement" (MMI) mark. MMI is reached when the employee's condition has improved to a certain degree and will not improve beyond that point. If a complete recovery is beyond the MMI mark, the extent of disability remaining is assessed for permanent disability benefits.

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