The 2005 Permanent Disability Rating Schedule
Every California permanent-disability rating — every DEU summary rating, every settlement demand, every reserve — runs through one document: the 2005 PDRS, adopted under Labor Code §4660 and amended for 2013+ injuries by SB 863. It converts the doctor’s whole person impairment into the PD percentage that pays, through a fixed pipeline of adjustments. This page is the schedule in one sitting: the pipeline, the string, the eras, and the money.
The pipeline, worked live
Example: a lumbar spine impairment (15.03.01.00) at 20% WPI, heavy laborer (group 380), age 39 at injury — computed by the same engine as the calculator, not typed by hand.
What each segment means
| Segment | Meaning | Deeper |
|---|---|---|
| 15.03.01.00 | The impairment number — chapter, section, and table of the AMA Guides mapped to the schedule’s own numbering. | All impairments |
| 20 | Whole person impairment from the medical report, rounded to a whole percent (plus up to 3% pain add-on where given). | WPI → PD |
| [1.4]28 | The earning-capacity adjustment. Flat ×1.4 for 2013+ injuries; an FEC rank 1–8 (shown like [5]) for 2005–2012 dates. | The full walkthrough |
| 380H | Occupational group (45 groups cover every job title) plus the variant letter the schedule assigns that impairment for that work. | Occupation guide · groups |
| 34 | The rating after the occupational adjustment table — heavier demands push it up, lighter demands pull it down. | — |
| 34 | The final PD% after the age table. Older at injury generally rates higher; 37–41 is the neutral bracket. | Age guide |
Multiple body parts don’t add — they combine on the Combined Values Chart, largest first, after any apportionment under §4663. The string grows one block per impairment; the field-by-field anatomy is in how to read a rating string.
Two eras, one schedule
The original §4660 design: each impairment carries a future earning capacity (FEC) rank 1–8, shown bracketed in the string (e.g. [5]), with era-specific weekly caps and the §4658(d) return-to-work ±15%.
§4660.1 replaces FEC with a flat ×1.4 for every impairment, raises the weekly PD rates, and bars add-on psych/sleep/sexual-dysfunction ratings for most physical injuries (with violent-crime and catastrophic exceptions).
The calculator rates both eras from the date of injury automatically — including split multi-date apportionment, each date under its own rules.
From percentage to money
The PD% maps to a statutory number of weeks (§4658), paid at a weekly rate capped by injury year. The worked example above — 34% PD — is 159 weeks; at the 2026 maximum of $290.00/week that’s $46,110.00 in PD indemnity. Ratings of 70%+ add a life pension; 100% pays at the TD rate for life. Price any percentage on the money chart or run the full anchor — fees included — on the settlement calculator.
The schedule itself
The DWC publishes the official document — the 2005 PDRS (PDF) — and its tables are what RateString implements: every occupational variant, adjustment, age bracket, and the Combined Values Chart, verified against the DIR’s own published worked examples. The methodology, step by step with citations, is on the docs page.
Common questions
The Permanent Disability Rating Schedule adopted by the California Division of Workers’ Compensation effective January 1, 2005 under Labor Code §4660. It converts a physician’s whole person impairment (AMA Guides 5th Edition) into a permanent disability percentage through occupational and age adjustments — and that percentage drives the indemnity money.
Yes. SB 863 amended how it works for injuries on or after January 1, 2013 — the FEC adjustment was replaced with a flat 1.4 multiplier (Labor Code §4660.1) — but the 2005 PDRS remains the operative schedule. Ratings today still use its occupational variants, age tables, and Combined Values Chart.
The single-line notation raters use to show the whole computation: impairment number, WPI, the [1.4] or FEC modifier, occupational group and variant, the occupationally-adjusted rating, and the final age-adjusted PD percentage. Every segment is checkable against the schedule’s tables.
Take the WPI from the medical report, apply the ×1.4 adjustment (2013+ injuries), look up the occupational variant for the impairment and job group, apply the occupational adjustment, then the age adjustment. Multiple impairments combine on the Combined Values Chart after apportionment. A calculator that runs the whole pipeline does this in seconds.
Estimates for informational use only; verify ratings against the DEU. Not legal advice.
Rating-schedule changes, the moment they land.
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