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- Somewhere in your file is a line like 15.03.01.00 – 8 – [1.4]11 – 340G – 13 – 15. Six fields — body part, impairment, the 1.4, occupation, occupation-adjusted rating, final percentage after age — and every one of them is arguable.
- Your occupational group is assigned by what you actually did all day, not your job title. Correcting it is one of the highest-leverage, lowest-cost arguments in a California comp case.
- A point is not a point: the law pays 3 weeks per point at the bottom and 16 at the top, at a rate frozen since 2014 ($160–$290). At 70% and above, 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. follows — do not settle without it accounted for.
Nobody explains the rating string to injured workers. So here it is — read aloud: lumbar spine, DRE Category II, 8% whole person impairment, adjusted by 1.4 to 11, occupational group 340 variant G raises it to 13, and the age adjustment raises it to 15% permanent disability.
Contents7 sections
Reading the string
THE ARGUMENT ALMOST NO INJURED WORKER KNOWS EXISTS
Your occupational group is assigned by what you actually did all day — not by your job title. A hospital “Environmental Service Representative” is a housekeeper. A “Logistics Associate” may be a warehouse worker. Titles are written by HR departments; groups are supposed to reflect duties. If the group on your string does not match the work you actually performed, say so.
| FIELD | WHAT IT MEANS |
|---|---|
| 15.03.01.00 | AMA Guides chapter 15 (Spine), region 03 (Lumbar), method 01 (DRE), subcategory 00. Chapter 16 is the upper extremities, 17 the lower, 18 pain |
| 8 | Whole person impairment — the physician’s number under the AMA Guides, 5th Edition. Impairment is not disability: the Guides describe an imaginary average worker aged 39, and everything after this field corrects toward the real one. Pain rates at most 3% and only as an add-on |
| [1.4]11 | For injuries on or after Jan. 1, 2013, WPI × 1.4, rounded: 8 × 1.4 = 11.2 → 11. A WPI of 12 next to an adjusted 12 is wrong on its face. A single digit 1–8 in the bracket means the older Future Earning Capacity system (2005–2012) |
| 340G | Occupational group 340 (janitors, cleaners, nurse aides), variant G. 45 groups from 110 to 590 by physical demand; variants run C–J, F is neutral, and the variant is specific to the injured body part |
| 13 | The occupation-adjusted rating — a lookup in the printed schedule, no formula |
| 15 | The final permanent disability after the age adjustment. Your age at the date of injury: older workers rate higher, younger lower. The neutral bracket is 37 to 41 |
GROUPS, BY DEMAND
110 managers, lawyers, judges · 112 secretaries · 250 bus and taxi drivers · 322 cooks, servers · 330 welders, crane operators · 340 janitors, nurse aides · 351 forklift operators · 360 warehouse, packers · 370 mechanics · 380 carpenters, electricians, plumbers, roofers · 460 general laborers · 470 diesel mechanics · 480 construction laborers · 490 police, firefighters, correctional officers
THE AGE ADJUSTMENT, PLAINLY
In the schedule’s own published example, a 30-year-old maintenance mechanic’s occupation-adjusted rating of 13 drops to 11. Same injury, same job — younger, so lower. The reasoning is retraining capacity. A genuinely counterintuitive feature.
From percentage to money
Labor Code § 4658 converts the percentage into weeks, and the statute says expressly that the figures “shall be cumulative” — they accumulate as the rating climbs. The permanent disability rate is $160 minimum, $290 maximum per week — frozen since January 1, 2014. Unlike temporary disabilityTD / TTD / TPD Temporary Disability, Total or Partial. Wage replacement while recovering. Two-thirds of average weekly earnings; 2026 maximum $1,764.11/week., permanent disability does not index to wage growth. A worker injured in 2026 is paid at rates set twelve years ago.
| RANGE OF PD | WEEKS PER 1% |
|---|---|
| 0.25 – 9.75% | 3 |
| 10 – 14.75% | 4 |
| 15 – 24.75% | 5 |
| 25 – 29.75% | 6 |
| 30 – 49.75% | 7 |
| 50 – 69.75% | 8 |
| 70 – 99.75% | 16 |
| RATING | WEEKS | AT $290 / WEEK |
|---|---|---|
| 5% | 15.00 | $4,350 |
| 10% | 30.25 | $8,773 |
| 15% | 50.50 | $14,645 |
| 25% | 100.75 | $29,218 |
| 50% | 271.25 | $78,663 |
| 70% | 433.25 | $125,643 — plus a life pension |
| 90% | 753.25 | $218,443 |
| 99% | 897.25 | $260,203 |
At 70% or above, there is a life pension on top — a payment for the rest of your life, beginning when the permanent disability weeks run out, escalating annually with wage growth. A settlement that ignores it can leave six figures behind.
Three real examples
A JANITOR · LUMBAR SPINE · 2019 — DWC’S OWN EXAMPLE
15.03.01.00 – 8 – [1.4]11 – 340G – 13 – 15. 8% impairment becomes 11 after the 1.4, 13 after occupation, 15% after age. 50.50 weeks, or $14,645. The age adjustment alone added two points — worth $2,392.50.
A CARPENTER · LUMBAR SPINE · 2021
15.03.01.00 – 10 – [1.4]14 – 380H – 18 – 18. Same body part, same method. 10% becomes 14, the heavier occupational group takes it to 18, the age bracket is neutral. 65.50 weeks, $18,995. Two more points and a heavier job produced $4,350 more, and the occupational group did most of that work.
A MAINTENANCE MECHANIC · CERVICAL SPINE · 2005–2012
15.01.02.02 – 8 – [5]10 – 470H – 13 – 11. Note the bracket: FECFEC / DFEC Future Earning Capacity / Diminished Future Earning Capacity. An adjustment factor applied to older injuries. rank 5, not the 1.4. The same 8% becomes only 10 under the old system, rises to 13 on occupation — and then falls to 11 because the worker was 30 years old.
What can change the number
APPORTIONMENT
Disability attributed to non-industrial causes reduces the award proportionally. After City of Jackson and Lindh, even an asymptomatic pre-existing condition — or a genetic predisposition — can support apportionmentApportionment Dividing permanent disability between industrial and non-industrial causes. It is to disability, not to findings on an image.. Under EscobedoEscobedo The en banc decision requiring an apportionment opinion to explain how and why. A percentage without reasoning is not substantial evidence., the physician must explain how and why; a percentage without that reasoning is not substantial evidenceSubstantial evidence The standard a medical opinion must meet to support a finding..
MULTIPLE BODY PARTS DO NOT ADD
They are combined through the Combined Values Chart, which produces less than simple addition. Vigil v. County of Kern (2024, en banc) held the chart is rebuttable — and Kite is the line of argument for adding where the impairments interact.
THE SCHEDULE CAN BE REBUTTED
Almaraz/GuzmanAlmaraz/Guzman The doctrine permitting a physician to depart from the strict AMA rating where it does not accurately reflect the impairment, using another method inside the “four corners” of the Guides. permits a physician to depart from the strict Guides where they do not capture the real impairment, with reasoning. Ogilvie and Dahl address rebutting the earning-capacity adjustment. Neither applies automatically — the report must be built deliberately.
TWO MORE RULES
Separate injuries usually get separate awards under Benson. And apportionment must be medical, not vocational — Nunes v. State of California (2023, en banc).
Who produces the rating
The Disability Evaluation UnitDEU Disability Evaluation Unit. Produces formal ratings from medical reports. rates the medical report. Once the DEU has a complete package, it must calculate and serve the rating within 20 days. If you are unrepresented, you have 30 days to request factual correction of the medical report on QMEQME Qualified Medical Evaluator. A state-certified physician who resolves disputes. Unrepresented workers get a panel of three by random draw. Form 37, and 30 days to seek reconsideration of the summary rating.
- Check the 1.4 arithmetic — WPI × 1.4, rounded, must equal the bracketed figure.
- Check the occupational group against what you actually did — Not your job title. And check the variant against the body part.
- Check the age — Your age at the date of injuryDate of injury For a cumulative or occupational disease claim, the law sets it as when you first suffered disability and knew or should have known it was work-related — not when the wear began. Almost every deadline runs off this. — not at the rating, not at settlement.
- Read the apportionment paragraph — Does it explain how and why, or just attach a percentage?
- If the rating is 70% or higher, find the life pension — Before anything is signed.
Frequently asked questions
Is my whole person impairment my permanent disability percentage?
No, and this is the most common misunderstanding in the system. An 8% impairment produced a 15% disability in the first example above.
Why is my rating lower than my coworker’s for the same injury?
Occupational group, variant, age at injury, and apportionment. Any one of them can move it several points.
Can the rating be wrong?
Yes, and the most common correctable error is the occupational group — assigned from a job title rather than actual duties.
Does age really matter that much?
Yes. In the schedule’s own example, being 30 instead of 39 cost the worker two rating points.
What if I have more than one injured body part?
They combine rather than add, which yields less than the sum. Whether they should be added instead is a real and sometimes winnable argument.
What if my rating is 70% or higher?
Then you are also owed a life pension for the rest of your life, on top of the permanent disability award, and it escalates annually. Do not settle without it accounted for.
When do permanent disability payments start?
Generally after temporary disability ends and you are found permanent and stationary.
Sources
2005 Permanent Disability Rating ScheduleDWC Disability Evaluation UnitLabor Code § 4453§ 4658§ 4659§ 4660§ 4660.1§ 4661.5§ 4663§ 46648 CCR § 9805. Impairment values are summarized, not reproduced; your rating depends on your own examination findings§ 4660.1(b)§ 4061(e).
General information about California law, not legal advice about your case.
Impairment values described are from the AMA Guides, 5th Edition as applied under the California rating schedule; the Guides are a copyrighted medical text and figures here are summarized rather than reproduced. Your rating depends on your own examination findings.
Reviewed by Jamey Teitell, Partner & Trial Attorney · Last reviewed
Law Offices of Solov & Teitell, APC · (213) 380-9310
Printed from https://www.solovteitell.com/workers-compensation/permanent-disability/ · Last reviewed