{"data":{"id":"us-ok/okla.-stat.-tit.-85a-85a-32","jurisdiction":"us-ok","citation":"Okla. Stat. tit. 85A, § 85A-32","heading":"Permanent total disability awards","body":"A. If an employee who is a \"physically impaired person\"\n\nreceives an accidental personal injury compensable under the\n\nAdministrative Workers' Compensation Act which results in additional\n\npermanent disability so that the degree of disability caused by the\n\ncombination of both disabilities results in disability materially\n\ngreater than that which would have resulted from the subsequent\n\ninjury alone, the employee may proceed against the Multiple Injury\n\nTrust Fund for permanent total disability. Only disability due to\n\nan injury to the body as a whole at a subsequent employer shall be\n\ncombinable with a prior body disability, except that disability to a\n\nmember may be combined with disability to the body as a whole. If\n\nsuch combined disabilities constitute permanent total disability, as\n\ndefined in Section 2 of this title, the employee shall receive full\n\ncompensation as provided by law for the disability resulting\n\ndirectly and specifically from the subsequent injury. In addition,\n\nthe employee shall receive compensation for permanent total\n\ndisability if the combination of injuries renders the employee\n\npermanently and totally disabled. The employer shall be liable only\n\nfor the degree of percent of disability which would have resulted\n\nfrom the subsequent injury if there had been no preexisting\n\nimpairment. The compensation rate for permanent total disability\n\nawards from the Multiple Injury Trust Fund shall be the compensation\n\nrate for permanent partial disability paid by the employer in the\n\nlast combinable compensable injury.\n\nB. Permanent total disability awards from the Multiple Injury\n\nTrust Fund shall be payable in periodic installments for a period of\n\neight (8) years or until the employee reaches sixty-five (65) years\n\nof age, whichever period is longer.\n\nC. Permanent total disability awards from the Multiple Injury\n\nTrust Fund shall accrue from the file date of the order of the\n\nWorkers' Compensation Commission finding the claimant to be\n\npermanently and totally disabled.\n\nD. Before a physically impaired person can proceed against the\n\nMultiple Injury Trust Fund, the previously adjudicated compensable\n\npermanent partial disability adjudged and determined by the Workers'\n\nCompensation Court, the Workers' Compensation Court of Existing\n\nClaims or the Workers' Compensation Commission and the permanent\n\npartial disability from the last injury must exceed fifty percent\n\n(50%) to the body as a whole. However, amputations and loss of use\n\nof a scheduled member qualifying as previous impairment under\n\nparagraph 2 of subsection A of Section 30 of this title shall be\n\nconsidered in lieu of previously adjudicated compensable permanent\n\npartial disability.\n\nE. Awards under this section shall abate upon the death, from\n\nany cause, of the employee.\n\nF. Reopening any prior claim other than the last injury claim\n\nagainst the employer shall not give a claimant the right to\n\nadditional Multiple Injury Trust Fund benefits.\n\nG. The Multiple Injury Trust Fund shall have authority to\n\ncompromise a claim for less than the indicated amount of permanent\n\ntotal disability. Orders shall be paid in periodic installments\n\nbeginning on the date of the award, unless commuted to a lump-sum\n\npayment or payments, by agreement of the claimant and the Multiple\n\nInjury Trust Fund. All offers made by the Multiple Injury Trust\n\nFund pursuant to this section shall be conveyed by the claimant's\n\nattorney to the claimant within five (5) days of receipt of the\n\noffer.\n\nH. If an order is entered finding an employee to be permanently\n\ntotally disabled as a result of combined disability, and such order\n\nis the result of a compromised settlement, the employee is\n\nthereafter prohibited from making an additional claim against the\n\nMultiple Injury Trust Fund. An attorney for a claimant against the\n\nMultiple Injury Trust Fund shall be entitled to a fee equal to\noffer.\n\nH. If an order is entered finding an employee to be permanently\n\ntotally disabled as a result of combined disability, and such order\n\nis the result of a compromised settlement, the employee is\n\nthereafter prohibited from making an additional claim against the\n\nMultiple Injury Trust Fund. An attorney for a claimant against the\n\nMultiple Injury Trust Fund shall be entitled to a fee equal to\n\ntwenty percent (20%) of permanent disability benefits awarded. The\n\nattorney fee shall be paid in periodic installments by the attorney\n\nreceiving every fifth check. All benefits awarded to the attorney\n\nshall be vested at the time the award becomes final.\n\nI. In the event a claimant receiving benefits for permanent and\n\ntotal disability from the Multiple Injury Trust Fund dies as a\n\nresult of his or her injury before the award has been fully paid,\n\npayments shall continue to the surviving spouse for five (5) years\n\nor upon remarriage, whichever occurs first. In no event shall\n\npayments to the surviving spouse extend beyond the period of\n\nbenefits awarded to the claimant.","path":["OK Code","Title 85A"],"source_url":"https://www.oklegislature.gov/OK_Statutes/CompleteTitles/os85A.pdf","current_through":"2026-08-14","vintage":"open-us-law v2026.08, retrieved 2026-09-14","retrieved_at":"2026-09-14T18:32:36Z","sha256":"b2a43e295c9781d7dc18d594adcc35d9b79feb69d53b67ad5dc98275b6353c45","source_id":"us-ok","stale":false,"prev":"us-ok/okla.-stat.-tit.-85a-85a-319","next":"us-ok/okla.-stat.-tit.-85a-85a-320"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}