According to some sources, the average workers’ compensation settlement value for hand and wrist injuries is slightly more than $25,000, with about $14,000 covering medical costs and another $11,000 from an insurance company indemnity payment.
At Matt Fendon Law Group, we represent Arizona workers who have work-related claims for all kinds of injuries, illnesses, and other medical conditions, including wrist injuries.
In this blog post, we consider:
- The common kinds of wrist injuries that you might experience on the job and their symptoms
- The kinds of workers’ compensation benefits you can receive for a wrist injury
- How a wrist injury under Arizona’s system of workers’ compensation can affect your chances of receiving a potential settlement from a workers’ compensation insurance company.
To learn more about wrist injury workers’ compensation settlement claims, or to get help with making a claim, call the Matt Fendon Law Group at (800) 229-3880 or use our online contact form.
How Much is the Average Workers’ Compensation Settlement for Wrist Injuries or Hand Injuries?
The average settlement value for a workers’ compensation claim for a wrist injury is about $25,000. However, this can vary considerably depending on additional factors such as:
- Whether your injury involves a wrist fracture
- Whether your injury requires surgery to treat, or results in amputation of the affected hand
- The kind of work you do, such as whether you need to use your wrists or hands as an integral part of your job duties
In these more severe cases, workers’ compensation settlement amounts for wrist injuries can exceed $100,000. The more treatment a wrist injury requires, the higher the potential settlement value will be.
Arizona Workers’ Compensation Benefits for Wrist Injuries
If you injured your wrist at work, you could qualify for workers’ compensation benefits, including compensation for your related medical bills, partial wage replacement payments, and possibly a workers’ compensation insurance settlement amount.
Compensation for lost future earning potential is a major factor if the injury prevents you from returning to your previous job or earning the same wages.
Medical Expenses Compensation
Workers’ compensation covers reasonable and necessary medical treatment related to a work-related injury, subject to approval and dispute resolution under Arizona law. Examples of covered expenses include:
- Inpatient and outpatient medical visits
- Medical imaging costs like X-rays, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or computed tomography (CT) scans
- Treatments including surgery, physical therapy, and rehabilitation
- Prescription medications
- A wrist splint or brace
Temporary Disability Benefits
Depending on the effects of your wrist injury on your ability to work, you may be able to receive temporary total disability (TTD) benefits or temporary partial disability (TPD) benefits.
Temporary Total Disability Benefits
Arizona has a seven-day waiting period. TTD benefits begin on the eighth day of disability, and the first seven days are paid retroactively only if the disability lasts more than 14 days.
TTD payments come every two weeks and continue until your treating doctor determines that you have reached your point of maximum medical improvement.
Temporary Partial Disability Benefits
If your wrist injury allows you to return to work but you are restricted to light-duty or modified work duties, and this work earns less than your pre-injury wage, TPD benefits allow you to receive two-thirds of the difference between your pre-injury wage and your current wage.
So, for example, if your pre-injury wage was $5,000 per month and your light-duty wage is $3,000, then your TPD benefit would be $1,333.40 (two-thirds of the difference of $2,000).
The same annual wage maximum limit as TTD applies to TPD payments. TPD payments continue until you can return to full work duty at your pre-injury job or you reach maximum medical improvement.
Scheduled Permanent Partial Disability Benefits
Sometimes a wrist injury can have long-lasting effects on your ability to work. If this happens, you may be eligible to receive permanent partial disability (PPD) compensation.
You can calculate what you might receive in PPD benefits based on Arizona Revised Statutes (ARS) Section 23-1044, the Arizona statutory schedule of workers’ compensation for PPD injuries.
Scheduled PPD Benefits for a Wrist Injury
This statute does not refer directly to wrist injuries, but it does cover hands.
By extrapolation, a wrist injury is evaluated based on its impact on the loss of use of the hand. Under ARS 23-1044(B)(12), if you totally lose the use of your dominant (major) hand, then you can receive 55% of your average monthly wage for 50 months. For your non-dominant (minor) hand, this period is 40 months.
For partial loss of use of a scheduled member, compensation is paid at 50% of the average monthly wage for a proportion of the scheduled period based on the percentage of impairment (impairment % × full scheduled months). However, if the partial loss prevents you from returning to your pre-injury occupation, compensation increases to 75% of the average monthly wage for that proportional period.
The length of this period depends on the percentage of loss determined by your doctor, using the American Medical Association (AMA) Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment. Increased compensation based on loss of earning capacity applies fully to unscheduled injuries under Arizona law, but the 75% adjustment is available for scheduled partial impairments where return to prior work is not possible.
Unscheduled PPD Benefits for a Wrist Injury
A wrist injury may become unscheduled if there is a prior work-related scheduled injury that closed with an impairment. These combined will convert the current scheduled wrist injury to an unscheduled one. If there exists a prior injury that results in an earning capacity disability, no matter how slight, the current scheduled wrist injury may be converted into an unscheduled injury.
If so, your PPD compensation is 55% of the difference between your pre-injury average monthly wage and your current earning capacity. Unscheduled PPD benefits are based on loss of earning capacity and may continue as long as the reduced earning capacity exists, subject to modification.
Does a Wrist Injury Always Result in a Workers’ Compensation Insurance Settlement?
Not every workplace injury will lead to a workers’ compensation insurance settlement.
For example, your employer’s insurance company is more likely to settle if you will miss work for an extended period of time after you reach your point of maximum medical improvement and qualify for permanent disability benefits.
Settlements are also more common for wrist injuries or medical conditions that will need intensive or ongoing medical care.
Have You Suffered a Wrist Injury at Work in Arizona?
An on-the-job hand or wrist injury can have a significant impact on your ability to engage in daily life activities as well as earn a living. This underscores the importance of obtaining the maximum compensation possible in any workers’ compensation settlement.
As we have shown, calculating the value of a wrist injury under Arizona workers’ compensation can be a complicated matter that involves how the injury happened, lost wages, scheduled or unscheduled calculations, temporary or permanent benefits, partial or total loss of use of the affected wrist or wrists, when you may reach maximum medical improvement, and whether you can negotiate for a settlement with a workers’ compensation insurance carrier.
At the Matt Fendon Law Group, our experienced Arizona workers’ compensation lawyers can help you understand your legal options if you have suffered a work-related wrist injury, file a workers’ compensation benefits claim, negotiate with an insurance company, and appeal a workers’ compensation claim denial.
You can call us at (800) 229-3880 or use our contact form to speak with one of our Arizona workers’ compensation attorneys and schedule a free consultation.
