Can You Go Back to Work After Receiving Permanent Disability Benefits?

When most people think of permanent disability, they think of people who suffered injuries and illnesses serious enough to keep them out of work for the rest of their lives. And while it’s true that the disability benefits they receive are intended to replace an income, many of those disability recipients want to go back to work, but are unsure how doing so will affect their benefits, especially if they are unsure if they can earn enough without benefits to pay their daily expenses.

Disabilities vary from person to person, and while some disabilities make it more difficult to work or force those impacted to change jobs or careers, other disabilities can make it impossible to work or hold down any job. The difference between those disabilities is factored in when disability benefits applicants are approved to receive either temporary disability benefits, permanent partial disability benefits, or permanent total disability benefits. Being able to go back to work depends on which of the three types of benefits are being received.

Temporary vs. Permanent Disability Benefits

Temporary and permanent disability benefits are both designed to support people who are injured or become ill and can’t work. However, they differ in how long they last and what they cover.

Temporary Disability Benefits

Temporary disability benefits provide short-term financial assistance to people who are temporarily unable to work due to an injury or illness. These benefits typically cover a portion of your lost wages while you recover.

Temporary benefits are for conditions that are expected to improve over time. For example, if you break a bone that makes it impossible to work until it’s healed or undergo surgery with a long recovery period, you may receive temporary benefits until you can return to work.

To qualify for temporary benefits, you need a medical certification showing that you can’t work because of your injury or illness and that your condition is expected to improve. These benefits usually end once you’ve recovered enough to return to your job or reach “maximum medical improvement” (MMI)—the point at which your condition isn’t likely to improve any further.

Permanent Disability Benefits

Permanent disability benefits are for people whose injuries or illnesses have a lasting impact and prevent them from returning to their previous work or any work in any capacity. These benefits are available when a person’s condition has reached maximum medical improvement, but they’re still unable to work as they did before. For example, an injury that left the patient paralyzed would qualify for permanent disability benefits.

Permanent disability benefits can be partial or total:

• Partial Permanent Disability: If you can do some work but only in a limited capacity, you may be eligible for partial benefits. This means you might receive assistance to compensate for the loss of your previous earning capacity.
• Total Permanent Disability: If your condition prevents you from working at all, you may receive benefits for total permanent disability. These are often long-term benefits that provide ongoing financial support.

To qualify for permanent disability benefits, your doctor or a medical professional must confirm that your condition is unlikely to improve and that it will prevent you from working as you once did.

Permanent Partial Disability Recipients Can Go Back to Work and Retain Their Benefits

When workers suffer injuries or illnesses that make it more difficult for them to work, it can often force them to perform fewer hours or different types of work than they previously performed. For example, they may no longer be able to perform any form of physical labor. However, their injuries may not keep them out of the job market altogether.

Workers who suffer from the following conditions may receive permanent partial disability benefits:

• Loss of limb
• Loss of vision in one eye
• Hearing loss
• Back or knee injury
• Nerve damage

Because these injuries affect workers’ ability to work at full capacity, they’re eligible to receive benefits that recoup some of the money they may lose out on over the course of their lives. However, the benefits are reduced compared to permanent total disability benefits because these individuals are still capable of working to some degree (and many can continue working full-time).

The amount of income that workers with permanent partial disability benefits can receive is based on their disability rating assigned by the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation. For example, a worker who suffered a serious hand injury but still possesses partial use of their hand may have a disability rating of 15%, which is also the maximum amount of benefits they can receive.

Permanent Total Disability Recipients Can’t Go Back to Work and Retain Their Benefits

When the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation rules that a worker is unable to ever return to work, they may receive permanent total disability benefits. Injuries that qualify workers for these types of benefits include:

• Loss of or full disability of both hands
• Loss of or full disability of both arms
• Loss of or full disability of both feet
• Loss of or full disability of both legs
• Total blindness
• Paralysis
• Severe traumatic brain injury

Permanently disabled individuals receiving permanent total disability benefits cannot return to work and continue to receive their benefits; which for most recipients is the rest of their lives. However, they CAN return to work if they’re okay with losing their benefits.

For example, a worker with a permanent total disability may want to enter the workforce again in a different capacity than at their last job. Although they may be living with a profound disability, they may be able to work within their abilities, and may earn more money than through their disability benefits. In this case, it can make sense for them to return to work and forgo their disability payments.

Need Disability Benefits? We Want to Help.

Deciding whether to return to work after you’ve already been approved to receive disability benefits is a luxury for many injured people. That’s because getting approved for any benefits at all is often an uphill battle. The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation has strict criteria for approving applications, and that means many otherwise valid applications get overlooked or rejected.

If you need help with any aspect of your claim, whether it’s filing for the first time or even appealing the Bureau’s decision, our Ohio workers’ compensation lawyers are here to help. Contact Nurenberg, Paris, Heller & McCarthy today for a free consultation. We have decades of experience assisting injured workers like you, and we know what it takes to win.

Originally published March 8, 2021.

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