What does permanent partial disability mean in a New York workers’ comp case?

When the Workers’ Compensation Board classifies you as having a Permanent Partial Disability (PPD), it means your injury will not fully heal, and it permanently limits what kind of work you can do — but you still have some capacity to work.

Under NY Workers’ Compensation Law §15(3), your PPD benefit is calculated based on your loss of wage-earning capacity (LWEC). A WCB judge or the Board itself assigns a percentage — say, 40% loss of wage-earning capacity. That percentage drives how long you receive benefits.

Here is the duration schedule under §15(3)(w): if you have a 0–14.9% LWEC, you get up to 225 weeks of benefits. At 15–29.9%, the cap is 300 weeks. At 30–49.9%, it is 425 weeks. At 50% and above, it can reach 525 weeks. These caps were established by the 2007 Workers’ Compensation Reform Act.

Your weekly PPD benefit equals two-thirds of the difference between your pre-injury AWW and your current earning capacity. If you have no post-injury earning capacity because no employer will hire you at your restrictions, the insurer should be paying based on your full AWW difference.

LWEC disputes are common and costly. Insurance carriers routinely push for low LWEC percentages to reduce how many weeks they pay. Medical evidence, vocational expert opinions, and your actual job search experience all feed into this determination.

If the Board’s LWEC classification feels wrong — if it does not reflect how your injury actually limits your daily life and employment options — you can request a hearing to contest it.