The Vermont Statutes Online
The Statutes below include the actions of the 2025 session of the General Assembly.
NOTE: The Vermont Statutes Online is an unofficial copy of the Vermont Statutes Annotated that is provided as a convenience.
(Cite as: 21 V.S.A. § 648)
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§ 648. Permanent partial disability benefits
(a) Where the injury results in a partial impairment which is permanent and which does
not result in permanent total disability, compensation shall be paid during the period
of total disability, as provided in sections 642 and 643 of this title, and at the termination of total disability, the employer shall pay to the injured
employee 66⅔ percent of the average weekly wage, computed as provided in section 650 of this title, subject to the maximum and minimum weekly compensation rates, for a period determined
by multiplying the employee’s percentage of impairment of the whole person by 330
weeks. The percentage of impairment to the whole person is the percentage of impairment
to the particular body part, system, or function converted to the percentage of impairment
to the whole person as provided in subsection (b) of this section.
(b) Any determination of the existence and degree of permanent partial impairment shall
be made only in accordance with the whole person determinations as set out in the
Fifth Edition of the American Medical Association Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent
Impairment. In order to utilize any subsequent edition of the American Medical Association
Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment or any other appropriate guides to
the evaluation of permanent impairment, the Commissioner, in consultation with the
Department of Labor Advisory Council, shall adopt a rule. The Commissioner shall adopt
a supplementary schedule for injuries that are not rated by the impairment guide authorized
for use by the Department to determine permanent disability.
(c) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections (a) and (b) of this section, for the
purposes of determining the payment period for any permanent partial impairment to
the spine, the percentage of impairment shall be determined in accordance with rules
adopted by the Commissioner according to which an injury to the spine that is evaluated
as a 60 percent impairment of the whole person shall provide 330 weeks of compensation.
(d) An impairment rating determined pursuant to this section shall be reduced by any previously
determined permanent impairment for which compensation has been paid, but if the combination
of the prior impairment rating and the rating determined pursuant to this section
would result in the employee being considered permanently totally disabled, the prior
rating shall not negate a finding of permanent total disability. (Amended 1959, No. 34, eff. March 12, 1959; 1963, No. 134, § 2, eff. June 6, 1963; 1977, No. 182 (Adj. Sess.), § 13, eff. May 3, 1978; 1993, No. 225 (Adj. Sess.), § 7, eff. April 1, 1995; 2007, No. 208 (Adj. Sess.), § 6.)