Regardless of what industry or type of work you engage in, you may experience an accident at work. If the accident results in an injury that prevents you from working, workers’ compensation may provide financial benefits to you based on your injury or disability.

Some workers’ compensation benefits pay employees on a temporary status until the injury has healed or until the employee returns to work. When a person’s injury is deemed permanent, a different set of benefits may initiate.

Determination of permanent injury status

As explained by the Industrial Commission of Arizona, your injury may be identified as permanent if a physician or other medical professional indicates no further improvement or rehabilitation may occur. Once you have reached a state of maximum improvement from a medical perspective, permanent injury benefits may commence. The amount of money you receive may vary based on a variety of factors.

Types of permanent injury benefits

For many injuries, the state’s workers’ compensation program identifies set benefits per a defined schedule. These include injuries to specific parts of the body, such as the extremities. For injuries that prevent you from working in your prior capacity for life may, receive the greatest benefit amount. Injuries that leave you with some amount of use of the body part may result in lower benefit amounts. For amputations, your benefit amount may be somewhere in between these two ranges.

This information is not intended to provide legal advice but is instead meant to give employees in Arizona an overview of the types of benefits available to them should they become permanently disabled or injured after an accident at work.