Oregon Workers Comp Settlement Chart: PPD Awards, CDA, and DCS

Oregon’s permanent partial disability awards follow a fixed formula, so a workers’ comp settlement chart for Oregon starts with one number: the state average weekly wage. For injuries occurring between July 1, 2025, and June 30, 2026, each percentage point of whole-person impairment is worth $1,417.06.¹ A 10 percent impairment produces a $14,170.60 impairment award. That figure can grow substantially if you also qualify for work disability, and it can be replaced entirely by a negotiated lump sum through a Claim Disposition Agreement.

PPD Award Values at Common Impairment Ratings

Because each percentage point equals one times the state average weekly wage (SAWW), the impairment-only portion of a current PPD award looks like this:

5 percent impairment: 5 × $1,417.06 = $7,085.30
10 percent impairment: 10 × $1,417.06 = $14,170.60
15 percent impairment: 15 × $1,417.06 = $21,255.90
20 percent impairment: 20 × $1,417.06 = $28,341.20
25 percent impairment: 25 × $1,417.06 = $35,426.50

These are impairment-only numbers. Workers who also qualify for work disability receive more on top. Older injury dates use a lower SAWW, so an injury from 2022 produces a smaller per-point value even if the claim is closed in 2026. The SAWW is set by the date of injury, not the date of closure. Exact per-year figures are published in Bulletin 111 by the Workers’ Compensation Division.¹

How the Formula Works

Under ORS 656.214, the impairment award is your whole-person impairment percentage multiplied by 100 and then by the state average weekly wage.² Running the math, a 0.05 impairment value times 100 times $1,417.06 produces $7,085.30. The arithmetic simplifies to one SAWW per percentage point, which is where the “per-point” shorthand comes from.

The Oregon Employment Department recalculates the SAWW every July 1, so the per-point value shifts annually. Your claim stays tied to the SAWW in effect on the date you were hurt.¹

Impairment-Only vs. Work Disability Awards

This is the distinction that most changes the final number. If your attending physician has released you to regular work, or you have already returned to the job you held when you were injured, you receive the impairment-only award from the chart above.²

If you have not been released to regular work and cannot return to your job at injury because of a permanent work restriction, you qualify for work disability benefits on top of the impairment award.³ Work disability uses a different calculation: your impairment percentage is adjusted upward by factors for your age, education, and ability to adapt to the job where you were hurt, then multiplied by 150, then by your actual weekly wage at the time of injury. That amount is added to the impairment award.

Two workers with identical 10 percent ratings can end up with very different checks. The one who returned to the same job gets $14,170.60. The one who cannot return gets that figure plus a work disability add-on reflecting lost earning capacity.

Getting to the Number: Medically Stationary and the Notice of Closure

No PPD award is calculated until you reach maximum medical improvement, which Oregon law calls being “medically stationary.” Your treating physician makes that determination when your condition has stabilized and is unlikely to improve substantially with further treatment.⁴ Being medically stationary does not mean recovered. It means the healing phase is over and whatever remains is permanent.

Your doctor then assigns an impairment rating as a percentage of the whole person, using standards set by the Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services.² The insurer must notify you in writing within seven days of learning you are medically stationary, and then issue a Notice of Closure containing your rating and the resulting PPD award.⁴ That notice is where the chart becomes real money.

Taking the Standard Award as a Lump Sum

Once a PPD award is in place, ORS 656.230 lets you request that it be paid in a single lump sum rather than installments. The insurer must pay unless you have not yet waived your appeal rights, the award is not final, compensation has been stayed pending a hearing, or you are enrolled in vocational training.⁵

For any PPD award of $6,000 or less, the insurer must pay the full amount as a lump sum automatically, with no request required.⁵ This is just a payment method for an award already determined through the standard closure process. It is not a settlement, and it does not change the dollar amount.

Negotiated Settlements: CDA and DCS

Oregon has two negotiated settlement vehicles, and neither follows the chart. The dollar amount in each is negotiated between the worker and insurer rather than calculated by formula.

Claim Disposition Agreement

Under ORS 656.236, a Claim Disposition Agreement (CDA) lets you accept a negotiated lump sum on an accepted claim in exchange for releasing most future benefits.⁶ Signing a CDA waives your rights to present and future temporary disability payments, PPD awards, permanent total disability, vocational assistance, and survivor’s benefits.⁷

What a CDA cannot waive is medical benefits for the accepted injury. Those stay open regardless of the agreement.⁶ You also keep eligibility for the Preferred Worker Program. Every CDA requires approval from the Administrative Law Judge who mediated it or from the Workers’ Compensation Board, and no payment is made until that approval is in hand. Once approved, the agreement is final for the benefits it waives.⁸

Disputed Claim Settlement

A Disputed Claim Settlement (DCS) is for situations where the insurer has denied your claim or disputes specific conditions. Both sides agree on a payment amount to resolve the disagreement. The key difference from a CDA: because the claim was denied, a DCS typically waives all future benefits for the denied conditions, including medical treatment. In a CDA on an accepted claim, medical benefits survive. In a DCS, they usually do not.⁷ A DCS can also resolve only the disputed portion of a partially accepted claim, leaving the accepted conditions open. Workers sometimes sign both a DCS and a CDA at once to close out denied and accepted conditions in parallel.

Challenging a Rating You Think Is Too Low

The Notice of Closure is not the final word on your award. If the rating looks low or does not reflect your actual limitations, you must request reconsideration before any hearing.⁹ The deadline is 60 days from the mailing date on the Notice of Closure.⁴

Reconsideration is handled on the Worker Request for Reconsideration form from the Workers’ Compensation Division, and it can be submitted by mail, fax, phone, or hand delivery. If the impairment findings themselves are the issue, you can check the box asking for a medical arbiter exam, a physical examination by a doctor the Division chooses to help settle the dispute.⁹ Reconsideration is a paper review, so this is your last chance to put new evidence into the record.

One warning worth paying attention to. If you request a lump sum payment of your PPD award and waive your right to reconsideration to speed things up, you permanently give up the ability to challenge the rating.⁹ That trade looks small on paper and can cost real money.

What You Give Up: Aggravation Rights and Vocational Assistance

A closed claim is not necessarily a finished claim. Under ORS 656.273, if your condition worsens after closure you can file an aggravation claim for additional compensation. You must show an actual worsening of the compensable condition, supported by objective medical findings, with the original workplace injury still the major contributing cause. The deadline is five years from the first Notice of Closure on a disabling claim. If you already received PPD for that condition, you must show the worsening exceeds the normal symptom fluctuation the earlier award already covered.¹⁰

A CDA typically closes out your ability to seek additional PPD even if your condition deteriorates. If there is any realistic chance your injury will get worse within five years of closure, that possibility should weigh heavily against a lump sum settlement.

Vocational assistance also disappears in a CDA. Workers whose injuries leave them unable to return to prior work may qualify for help getting into suitable employment, defined as work matching your physical abilities, within reasonable commuting distance, and paying within 20 percent of pre-injury wages. The program favors direct job placement, with retraining available when needed, and temporary disability benefits during retraining lasting up to 16 months (or 21 with insurer agreement or a good-cause director order).¹¹ Signing a CDA ends your access to this. Once that right is gone, it is gone.

Attorney Fees

Oregon handles attorney fees differently than most states. Under ORS 656.386, when a worker’s attorney wins an increase in compensation through a hearing or appeal, the fee comes out of that increase rather than being billed to the worker.¹² The fee must be reasonable and is set by the Workers’ Compensation Board or Administrative Law Judge. You generally will not write a check up front for representation on a PPD dispute, but legal fees do reduce your net recovery.

In CDA negotiations, the attorney fee is built into the total settlement figure. When you compare a lump sum offer against what you would otherwise collect through the standard formula and future benefits, remember that a portion of the lump sum goes to fees before it reaches you.

1
Workers’ Compensation Division. Bulletin 111 – Computation of Temporary Disability, Permanent Disability, and Death Benefits Based on Oregon’s State Average Weekly Wage
2
Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Code 656.214 – Permanent Partial Disability
3
Oregon Workers’ Compensation Division. Oregon Administrative Rules Chapter 436 Division 035 – Disability Rating Standards
4
Oregon Public Law. Oregon Code 656.268 – Claim Closure
5
Oregon Public Law. Oregon Code 656.230 – Lump Sum Award Payments
6
Oregon Public Law. Oregon Code 656.236 – Compromise and Release of Claim Matters Except for Medical Benefits
7
State of Oregon. Claim Settlements – Frequently Asked Questions
8
State of Oregon. Workers’ Compensation Board Disputes – Settlements
9
Workers’ Compensation Division. Understanding the Reconsideration Process
10
Oregon Public Law. Oregon Code 656.273 – Aggravation for Worsened Conditions
11
Oregon Public Law. Oregon Code 656.340 – Vocational Assistance Procedure
12
Oregon Public Law. Oregon Code 656.386 – Recovery of Attorney Fees, Expenses and Costs