Permanent Total Disability Benefits (PTD)

There are certain injuries that automatically qualify as a Permanent Total Disability. For other injuries, one must prove that the employee’s physical disability permanently causes the employee to be unable to find anything more than occasional employment resulting in insubstantial income. This means that you cannot find a steady job and earn a living from the work.

To claim Permanent Total Benefits one must meet one of the following three thresholds:

• At least a 17% Permanent Partial Disability Rating of the whole body; or
• Permanent Partial Disability Rating of the whole body of at least 15% and be at least 50 years old at the time of the injury; or
• A Permanent Partial Disability Rating of at least 13% and be at least 55 years old at the time of injury and have not completed 12th Grade or obtained a General Education Degree (GED).
• The Permanent Total Disability Benefit rate is frequently the same rate at the rate paid for Temporary Total Disability Benefit.

Duration: Permanent Total Disability Benefits (for injuries after October 1, 2018) end at age 72 unless the employee is injured after 67, in which case permanent total benefits cease after five years of permanent total disability have been paid.