Apportionment

Just because you have an on-the-job injury and have a permanent disability, doesn’t mean you will receive the benefits to which you are entitled. One thing that can stand in your way is the little concept of apportionment. Let me give you an example. Say you work for “XYZ Corporation” and hurt your back in 1999. You went to the company doctor who placed you at maximum medical improvement and said you had no permanent impairment. Then in 2001 you injure your back again. Another company doctor again says you have no impairment and you return to the same employer. Then in 2007 you injure your back again. This time the company doctor says that you have a 15% disability. But, he states that 5% of the disability came from the injury in 1999 and another 5% came from the injury in 2001. He apportions out 10% of your disability, blaming it on the previous injuries and you get permanent disability benefits based on the 5% he attributes to the 2007 injury. Keep in mind, you never received a dime of permanent impairment benefits from the two other injuries. It’s probably too late to go back and reopen those cases anyway. So you are never paid for that 10% that the latest doctor takes off of your permanent disability benefit, even though when you had the injury, the employer-selected doctor said you were fine. You might ask, “How can that be?” Well, it be!

Fortunately, the Workers Compensation Education Association, (the claimant attorney’s bar) is working to fix this ridiculous inequity. The WCEA is proposing legislation that would only allow apportionment to another on-the-job injury if you were actually paid benefits for that injury. It is going to be a hard fight, but this something that must be fixed. It’s just too unfair.

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