Preparing For Life After Temporary Disability Ends And You Have Reached MMI. - What To Do After You Have Been Released From Treatment?

The time will come when you are found to have reached maximum medical improvement (MMI). What this means is that further medical treatment is not reasonably expected to improve your level of medical impairment of functioning.

At this point, your bi-weekly temporary disability benefits will end. You will now most likely be paid permanent disability advances at a maximum weekly rate of $ 230 per week (2006 rates). In some cases, the insurance company will stop all payments because there is a medical opinion that you have ZERO ratable impairment under the AMA Guides. In other cases, the permanent disability payments may not last more than a few months because of low impairment ratings.

In many cases, our office will contest these low ratings where there is a good argument that the rating should be higher. However, this takes time and you need money to live.

You have the following options, which should be attempted in the following order.

1. You should always contact your employer to ask if they have a job that you can perform.
2. If your employer claims that they have no job for you or they refuse to cooperate in giving you a modified/alternate job that that accommodates your disability, you may have a viable claim for disability discrimination with the Department of Fair Employment and Housing. Contact my office immediately if the employer refuses accommodations.
3. In the event you are unable to return to work at your employer, you have no other option but to look for a job with another employer. You will have to do your best to find a job that is compatible with your disability. Unfortunately, you have no other alternative because the vocational rehabilitation benefit and maintenance allowance that once cushioned the blow of not being able to return to work at the same employer is no longer available to the injured worker.