NCIC Workers' Compensation Rating Guide

DEFINITION OF DISABILITY

According to Webster’s Dictionary, disability is defined as:

1. “State of being disabled; absence of competent physical, intellectual, or moral power, fitness, or the like; also an instance of such lack.”
2. “Legal incapacity, incompetence, or disqualification.”

Medically, disability is physical impairment and inability to perform physical functions normally.

Legally, disability is permanent injury to the body for which the person should or should not be compensated.

Under the statutes of workers’ compensation, disability may be divided into three periods—which are:

1. Temporary total disability is that period in which the injured person is totally unable to work. During this time he receives medical treatment.
2. Temporary partial disability is that period when recovery has reached the stage of improvement so that the person may begin some kinds of gainful employment.
3. Permanent disability applies to permanent damage or to loss of use of some part of the body after the stage of maximum improvement from medical treatment has been reached and the condition is stationary.

Read the entire rating guide at the North Carolina Industrial Commission website.