“What is this row of numbers?”

You have a report with something that looks like this in it:

15.03.01.00 – 8 – [1.4]11 – 340G – 13 – 15

That is a rating stringRating string The row of numbers encoding your entire permanent disability calculation. Checkable arithmetic., and it is the entire arithmetic of your permanent disabilityPD Permanent Disability. Compensation for lasting impairment. A different and much lower weekly rate — 2026 maximum $290/week. compressed into one line.

Every element is checkable, and errors in it are common.

What each part is

And it must be arithmetically self-consistent. In the example above, 8 × 1.4 = 11.2, which rounds to 11. If the impairment and the multiplier do not produce the adjusted figure, something is wrong — and that is checkable with a calculator.

The five errors worth looking for

Extremity percent used as whole person percent. 100% upper extremity is 60% whole person. 100% lower extremity is 40%. A shoulder report saying “20% upper extremity” is 12% whole person, not 20. This is the single most common source of confusion: read as whole person, an extremity figure overstates by a wide margin.

The wrong occupational group. Your group is based on what you actually did, not your job title. A worker whose title says “technician” but whose job was heavy lifting is not in a light group.

A missing body part. If it is in your treatment records and not in the string, it contributes nothing.

A missing procedure. A distal clavicle resection carries a fixed value and is routinely buried in the operative report. A knee’s cartilage interval requires standing x-rays that are often never taken.

And apportionmentApportionment Dividing permanent disability between industrial and non-industrial causes. It is to disability, not to findings on an image. that does not explain itself. Under EscobedoEscobedo The en banc decision requiring an apportionment opinion to explain how and why. A percentage without reasoning is not substantial evidence., a percentage assigned without reasoning is not substantial evidenceSubstantial evidence The standard a medical opinion must meet to support a finding.. How to attack it.

Then it becomes money

The percentage converts to weeks, and the weeks convert to dollars — and the schedule is cumulative, meaning higher ratings earn more weeks per point rather than a flat rate. That is why a 70% rating is worth far more than twice a 35% rating.

How the arithmetic actually works.The full guide to reading your rating.

And at 100%, the entire system changes — a life pensionLife pension Payable at 70%–99% after the PD award is exhausted. § 4659(a): 1.5% of average weekly earnings per point above 60 — with earnings capped at $515.38 since 2006. of up to $301.50 a week becomes up to $1,764.11 a week for life. Why one point matters that much.