What Is PHP?
In the New York State Workers’ Compensation world, PHP refers to protracted healing period and it becomes relevant when a schedule loss of use award is made because an injured worker has a permanent loss of function or motion in a body part.
Schedule Loss of Use
Simply put, a schedule loss of use will translate into a finite number of weeks of compensation. It occurs when the employee has a disability in an upper extremity, lower extremity, eye(s), or hearing. Both the disabled body part and the severity of the disability influence the duration, and therefore, amount, of the worker’s compensation award.
A chart determines a schedule loss of use award. It is not something an insurer has discretion in deciding. The law defines the number of weeks based on the body part. Then, it accounts for the percentage of the loss of use, such as 100 percent of the loss of use of an arm or 50 percent of the loss of use of a worker’s vision. This percentage is multiplied by the initial number of weeks to determine a final number of weeks. Then, a worker earns two-thirds of their average weekly wage for that final number of weeks.
For injuries to scheduled body parts, New York has codified a normal duration of healing. These are:
- Arm: 32 weeks
- Hand: 32 weeks
- Thumb: 24 weeks
- First finger: 18 weeks
- Second finger: 12 weeks
- Third finger: 8 weeks
- Fourth finger: 8 weeks
- Leg: 40 weeks
- Foot: 32 weeks
- Great toe: 12 weeks
- Other toes: 8 weeks
- Ear: 25 weeks
- Eye: 20 weeks
Extending a Worker’s PHP
However, the body does not always heal on schedule. An injured worker may remain disabled for a longer period of time. In which case, they should receive compensation for a longer duration. A protracted healing period, in certain cases, can be added to the schedule loss of use award increasing the one time payment a claimant may be owed.
The protracted healing period represents a specific numbers of weeks which correspond to a scheduled body part. For instances, the healing period for an arm injury is 32 weeks. This means that if it can be shown that a claimant has been totally disabled for more than 32 weeks because of an arm injury, the number of weeks beyond the healing period can be added to the schedule award. In certain cases, this can be a significant difference in the amount of benefits paid for the schedule loss.
PHP does not apply to every schedule loss of use award. It only applies to schedule loss of use awards in which the injured worker’s disability takes longer than the normal healing period, which is defined by law. If a worker’s injury is resolved within the normal healing period, they would not obtain any additional compensation through PHP.