A workers’ compensation shoulder settlement is built from five things. Your permanent impairment rating, your wages before the injury, whether you had surgery, what your future medical care will cost, and the state you were hurt in.
Two workers can tear the same rotator cuff on the same loading dock and settle for very different amounts, because Georgia and Arizona value a shoulder in completely different ways. Once you can see the pieces the insurance company used to build its offer, you can see where the offer falls short. Workers’ compensation shoulder claims are often undervalued for one reason, which is that they get settled before the medical picture is finished.
What Determines the Value of a Shoulder Injury Settlement
Your shoulder is what lets you reach overhead, carry a load away from your body, and hold a tool above your head for a full shift. A rotator cuff tear can end a career in framing, roofing, warehouse work, or hotel housekeeping and leave you qualified only for jobs that pay considerably less.
A shoulder settlement has to account for that lost earning ability as much as for the medical damage itself. The same tear can be worth very different amounts to two workers, depending on what each of them was earning and what each of them can still do afterward.
How Your Impairment Rating Sets the Number
When your treating doctor decides you have reached maximum medical improvement, meaning more treatment will not make the shoulder any better, the doctor assigns you a permanent impairment rating. Georgia and Arizona both rely on the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment to produce that rating.
The rating is a percentage, and it multiplies through everything that comes after it, so accepting a low one without a second opinion caps your claim before the negotiation even starts. Two physicians can look at the same images and land on different numbers. In Georgia, the doctor rating you is usually one you picked from a panel of physicians your employer posted, and under O.C.G.A. § 34-9-201 you are allowed to switch once to another doctor on that same panel without asking anyone’s permission.
Surgery tends to move the rating more than any other factor. A tear treated with physical therapy and injections produces a lower rating and a smaller settlement than the same tear repaired arthroscopically, because a repaired shoulder rarely returns to full function. Surgery should be a medical decision rather than a settlement strategy, but it is worth asking questions if an adjuster is discouraging a surgical consultation your own doctor recommended.
Read: Do You Have To See the Doctor Chosen by Worker’s Comp?
How Georgia Pays for a Shoulder Injury
Georgia pays for permanent damage through permanent partial disability benefits. The shoulder is not listed separately on the state’s schedule, so shoulder impairment is usually converted into an arm rating, and under O.C.G.A. § 34-9-263 the arm is assigned 225 weeks.
Take your impairment rating, apply it to the 225 weeks, and multiply the result by your weekly compensation rate, which is two thirds of your average weekly wage up to the state maximum of $800 a week for injuries on or after July 1, 2023. A 15 percent arm rating gives you 33.75 weeks of benefits, and your weekly rate decides what those weeks are worth.
Permanent partial disability is only one part of a Georgia settlement. Unpaid wage benefits, future medical treatment, and the cost of closing out your claim sit alongside it.
How Arizona Pays for a Shoulder Injury
Arizona does not put the shoulder on its schedule. Under A.R.S. § 23-1044, injuries to the body parts the statute lists, such as the arm, the hand, or the leg, are called scheduled injuries and are paid at a set rate for a set number of months. The shoulder is not on that list, which makes it an unscheduled injury alongside the back, the neck, and the hip.
Unscheduled injuries are paid on loss of earning capacity instead of a formula. The Industrial Commission compares what you earned before the injury with what you are able to earn now that you have permanent restrictions, and it weighs your age, your education, your work history, and the jobs actually available to you. Permanent partial disability for an unscheduled injury is generally paid at 55 percent of that difference.
A 45-year-old roofer in Phoenix who can no longer work overhead may end up with a modest impairment rating and a large loss of earning capacity, and it is the earning capacity that carries the value of his claim.
What Else Should Be Included in Your Settlement
Impairment is only one part of the number, and offers usually fall short on the rest of it.
- Future medical care. Repaired shoulders need follow-up visits, injections, imaging, and sometimes a second surgery. A settlement that closes your medical rights has to pay for all of it.
- Wage benefits you were underpaid. If your average weekly wage was calculated without your overtime or your second job, every benefit built on that number came up short.
- Loss of earning capacity. Central to the Arizona calculation, and relevant in Georgia when the injury is severe enough to be treated as catastrophic.
- The rights you give up. A settlement usually closes the claim for good. Whatever your shoulder needs in five years, you are paying for it out of the number you sign for today.
Signs a Shoulder Settlement Offer Is Too Low
Offers tend to arrive at a predictable moment, right after your wage checks stop and before you have had a chance to get a second opinion on your rating.
Look hard at any offer that shows one of these signs.
- It arrives before you reach maximum medical improvement. Nobody knows what the shoulder is worth until your doctor says it has stabilized.
- It assumes you will never need treatment again. Repaired shoulders often need injections, imaging, and sometimes a second surgery.
- It is built on a rating from a doctor you did not choose. A second opinion can change the percentage that the entire settlement gets multiplied by.
- It assumes you can go back to the same job at the same pay. A drywall hanger who was earning $1,100 a week and can no longer lift above his shoulder is not going to reach that wage again.
- It folds in money you were already owed. Unpaid wage benefits are yours regardless, and they should not be counted as part of what you are being offered now.
How Cruz & Associates Helps With Shoulder Injury Settlements
A shoulder injury changes what you are able to do for a living, and a settlement usually closes your claim for good, including your right to future treatment. Once you sign, the shoulder is yours to pay for. Have someone go through the numbers with you first.
Cruz & Associates has represented injured workers in Georgia and Arizona since 1989. Our team is 100% bilingual, the consultation is free, and we work on a No Win No Fee basis, so you pay nothing unless we recover for you. We represent clients regardless of immigration status. Our Atlanta workers’ compensation attorneys and our Phoenix workers’ compensation attorneys will look at your impairment rating, your wage calculation, and the cost of the care you still need.
We are available 24 hours a day, and we will come to you at the hospital or at home. Request a free consultation or call the office closest to you.
- Atlanta: (404) 444-1111
- Phoenix: (602) 777-6666
- Tucson: (520) 567-8000
Frequently Asked Questions
How is a workers’ comp shoulder injury settlement calculated?
It is built from your permanent impairment rating, your pre-injury wages, the cost of your future medical care, and any wage benefits you were underpaid. Georgia rates the shoulder as part of the arm and pays permanent partial disability on a statutory schedule. Arizona treats the shoulder as an unscheduled injury and pays based on your loss of earning capacity.
Is a shoulder injury a scheduled injury in Arizona?
No. Under A.R.S. § 23-1044 the shoulder is unscheduled, so your benefits are based on how much the injury reduced your ability to earn rather than on a fixed number of months.
How many weeks is an arm worth in Georgia workers’ comp?
225 weeks under O.C.G.A. § 34-9-263. Your impairment rating is applied to those weeks, and the result is multiplied by your weekly compensation rate.
Does surgery increase a shoulder injury settlement?
Usually, because surgical cases carry higher medical costs, more time out of work, and higher impairment ratings. The decision to have surgery should still be a medical one, made by you and your doctor.
Should I accept the first settlement offer for a shoulder injury?
Not without review. First offers commonly arrive before maximum medical improvement, rely on the insurance company’s impairment rating, and underfund the care you will still need.
