A permanent work restriction is a medical determination that you can no longer perform specific physical tasks because of a lasting injury. Restrictions are issued by your treating physician, or in some cases an independent medical examiner, after you have reached maximum medical improvement, meaning your condition is not expected to improve further.

Common permanent restrictions include:

• No heavy lifting over a certain weight
• No repetitive bending or twisting
• No prolonged standing, sitting, or walking
• Avoidance of overhead work or climbing
• Sedentary-only or light-duty-only limitations

These restrictions affect more than your current job. They shape your earning capacity and your future employment opportunities, which is exactly what a settlement is supposed to account for.

If your injury results in permanent partial disability (PPD) or permanent total disability (PTD), what your case is worth is shaped by the nature and severity of your injury, your permanent restrictions, whether you can return to your old job or any job at all, your age, education, and work history, and any functional capacity evaluation or vocational assessment in the record. Three scenarios come up constantly:

If You Cannot Return to Your Job

If your restrictions prevent you from doing your old job, and your employer cannot or will not offer a modified position, you may qualify for a higher PPD settlement or vocational benefits.

If You Cannot Work Anywhere

If your restrictions are severe enough that you cannot work in any reasonable job, you may qualify for permanent total disability, which can provide weekly lifetime benefits or a substantial lump sum settlement.

If Your Employer Fails to Accommodate You

Even when restrictions are manageable, an employer that refuses to accommodate them can strengthen your case. If that is your situation, read about your rights when an employer refuses your return to work.

In cases involving long-term restrictions, the evidence usually comes from three places:

• Vocational experts, who assess your realistic ability to re-enter the job market with your restrictions.
• Functional capacity evaluations (FCEs), which measure your physical limitations through standardized testing.
• Independent medical opinions, used to answer employer-selected doctor findings. Knowing what the IME will ask matters here too.

These reports connect your restrictions to your earning ability. That connection is what turns a medical note into settlement value.

In 2025 alone, our firm spent over $700,000 on expert witnesses. Vocational experts, functional capacity evaluations, and independent physicians turn your restrictions into documented evidence of lost earning capacity, the kind that holds up at a hearing.

Our firm handled roughly 1 in 4 of recent workers’ compensation trials at the St. Louis Division of Workers’ Compensation, out of hundreds of attorneys representing Missouri workers. Insurers know which firms will actually try a case, and it changes how they negotiate.

That is the leverage a trial firm brings to a restrictions case: the insurer negotiates against evidence it knows we are prepared to present.

Do permanent restrictions guarantee a higher settlement?

No outcome is guaranteed. But restrictions are among the factors that most influence value because they speak directly to earning capacity. What matters is whether they are documented, defended, and reflected in your rating.

Who decides my permanent restrictions?

Your treating physician, or an independent medical examiner, typically at or after MMI. If that doctor was chosen by the insurance side, like the company doctor, the restrictions may understate your condition, and that can be challenged.

What is a functional capacity evaluation?

A standardized set of physical tests that measures what you can and cannot do: lifting, carrying, standing, reaching. FCE results are frequently used to support or dispute permanent restrictions.

What if my employer will not accommodate my restrictions?

Document every request and every refusal, and talk with an attorney. Accommodation failures can affect both your benefits and your settlement posture. Every case is different; results depend on the facts.