WORKERS' COMPENSATION I Main Menu

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Title: Shoulder Injuries?

Question:

Last year I had surgery on my left shoulder. During the surgery, the doctors cut off a piece of my collarbone at the very end of my shoulder and also scraped off some bony deposits which had formed on the underside of my shoulder bone. The doctors explained I had developed an impingement condition in my shoulder as the result of the repetitive heavy lifting I do at work I am now back on the job; but I find I have lost some range of motion in my left arm as well as a significant loss of strength, especially when I have to lift overhead. My doctors have assigned an impairment rating of 10% to my upper extremity. The insurance company says that since my work limitations are confined to my left arm, I am entitled to only 25 weeks of permanent benefits, since according to Iowa's compensation law, the entire loss of a worker's arm is given 250 weeks (10% x 250). Is the insurance company correct that my potential loss of earning power does not have to be considered in valuing my shoulder injury?

Answer:

No. The Iowa courts and workers' compensation commissioner have found as a injury to the shoulder, is an injury to the body as a whole. Prewitt v. Firestone (564 N.W.2d 852), a case handled by this office, found that a shoulder injury must be valued in accord with the industrial disability method which measures the worker's loss of earning capacity. In addition to the permanent impairment given by the doctors to the damaged body part, the industrial disability method takes into account the worker's age, education, work history, work limitations, and other factors. As observed by the Prewitt Court, the amount of compensation workers receive under an industrial disability valuation is often much greater than they would receive under an impairment rating given to a scheduled part such as an arm. Moreover, the fact that workers have been able to return to their former jobs does not mean those workers are not entitled to industrial disability since they may well have suffered some loss in their ability to earn wages in the future.

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