A permanent partial disability is the complete or partial loss or loss of use of a part of the body, or the partial loss of use of the body as a whole. "Loss of use' is not specifically defined in the law, but it generally means the employee is unable to do things with the body part or with the body as the whole that he or she was able to do before the injury.

PPD benefits are paid only if the work-related injury or disease results in a permanent loss of use of a part of the body or the whole body. PPD benefits are paid only after the employee's condition has reached a point where it will not improve any more. The Industrial Commission evaluates employee's physical impairment and the effect of the disability on the injured worker's life. Factors that may be considered include the individual's age, skill, occupation, training, and inability to engage in certain kinds of work or activities, pain, stiffness or limitation of motion. There are two ways in which PPD benefits may be determined. In the first method, the amount depends on the part of the body injured and the extent of the loss. The law places a value on certain body parts, expressed as a number of weeks of compensation for each part. The numbers of weeks provided for the various parts of the body are listed in the following chart.

In the second method, the employee may be entitled to a percentage of 500 weeks that the partial disability bears to total disability. The PPD benefit is 60% of the employee's gross average weekly wage, subject to certain limits.

An employee who sustains a permanent injury or impairment of the body not listed in the chart is entitled to the percentage of 500 weeks that the partial disability bears to total disability. An employee who suffers a permanent disfigurement to the hand, head, face, neck, arms, legs, below the knee or chest above the armpits as a result of a job-related injury is entitled to benefits for up to 150 weeks at the PPD rate. Employees who cannot return to the same occupation after the work-related injury or disease are entitled to receive a wage differential. The wage differential is two-thirds of the difference between the amount the employee would otherwise be earning in the full performance of his job if the accident had not occurred, and the amount he or she is able to earn after the injury.