A workers’ compensation calculator can help organize important claim factors, but it cannot replace the medical and legal process used to determine benefits in an actual California case.
How California permanent disability is rated
For injuries on or after January 1, 2013, California’s permanent disability framework begins with medical impairment and applies statutory rating rules. The rating accounts for the worker’s occupation and age at injury. The medical impairment generally begins with the AMA Guides, Fifth Edition, and whole-person impairment is subject to the statutory 1.4 adjustment before occupational and age adjustments. Apportionment may then limit permanent disability to the portion caused by the industrial injury.
Why an online settlement estimate is different
Claim Calculator Pro is not the Disability Evaluation Unit and does not issue an official rating. It uses reported claim characteristics to model possible settlement considerations. Actual cases depend on medical reporting, accepted conditions, apportionment, earnings, injury date, future treatment, disputed issues, and negotiated terms.
What the calculator considers
The body parts you report as originally injured.
Treatment stage, including conservative care, injections, surgery recommendations, and completed surgery.
How you report your recovery and current work status.
Additional body parts or conditions you report.
Whether additional conditions have been evaluated or treated, as referral context.
What the calculator does not do
Issue an official permanent disability rating.
Determine whether an injury or additional condition is legally compensable.
Replace a medical report, QME, AME, DEU rating, settlement offer, or WCAB decision.
Guarantee treatment authorization, representation, settlement, or a particular outcome.
Multiple impairments also are not ordinarily handled by simply adding percentages together. California’s rating schedule uses prescribed combination methods and cautions against duplicative impairment. While we are confident in our calculator, the value of your claim depends largely on the medical reporting found by the doctors that are treating you for your claim.