Working in California’s workers’ compensation system often requires quick reference to many different charts, such as charts of compensation rates, charts of permanent disability values, and many more. Practitioners, adjusters, the bench and bar often find it necessary to reach for, and in some cases search for, the appropriate chart in order to find the minimum or maximum temporary disability rate, the value of permanent disability or calculate the number of days between dates. Haight’s iComp Calculator, available through the Apple App Store, puts the information you need as close as your iPhone or iPad.
The goal of Haight’s iComp Calculator, first published in 2014 and updated in February 2015, is to provide the workers’ compensation community with a readily available and streamlined means of calculating temporary disability rates, permanent disability and life pension values, and to determine the value of single or multiple periods of disability paid at varying dollar rates. Here’s how it can be used to make the day to day need for compensation charts obsolete.
Inspiration for the Haight iComp Calculator was the often heard call from attorneys at the at the WCAB looking for a chart of permanent disability values. The need to find the value of a permanent disability percentage arises every time there is a settlement negotiation, discussion with a client about the range of values of a case or the need to determine a life pension payment. There now are several available resources for the information, but using each has its drawbacks. In some cases, the charts only represent the value of the maximum rate of compensation. In some, the print is so small and the layout so dense, that it is very easy to make mistakes. In some cases a good deal of extra input is required just to answer a simple question.
The iComp Calculator is designed to provide clear, quick yet thorough, answers that are focused on the particular problem. The App is tailored to limit the number of keystrokes required by avoiding data input that is irrelevant to the problem being solved. Yet, as the need for more information arises, the program expands to accommodate the complexity of the question.
New to the iComp Calculator for 2015 is the days between dates function. Press the “DBD” tab to access this tool. It provides a specialized spreadsheet to calculate the number of days and weeks between any two dates, and to determine the dollar value of that period at any input weekly payment rate. Further, multiple periods of time and payment rates may be calculated on the same spreadsheet, and these will be summed on the fly. So, it is easy to calculate the sum of several broken periods of compensation payable at different rates. Up to 8 periods may be calculated and summed in one work sheet.
The utility of this component of the iComp Calculator extends beyond workers’ compensation indemnity. Calculating wage loss over long periods of time, during which wages change, can be a time consuming task without this calculator. Similarly, to calculate the number of missed days from work taken on an intermittent period often is fraught with opportunity for error. The iComp Calculator facilitates all these tasks.
If you would like instructions on operating each function of the iComp Calculator, you can follow this link: instructions to iComp Calculator. While there are many workers’ compensation Apps available, none exceed Haight’s iComp Calculator for focus on the task, ease of use or minimized data entry. Forever gone are the time-intensive and frustrating searches at the WCAB or on your desk for a PD chart. We hope that you find our App useful.
Haight’s employment and workers’ compensation practice group developed this tool in partnership with TZT&C LLC. When using the tool, please heed all guidance and professional disclaimers provided with the App. We look forward to hearing from you should you have any questions or comments about the Haight iComp Calculator.
This document is intended to provide you with information about workers’ compensation related developments. The contents of this document are not intended to provide specific legal advice. If you have questions about the contents of this alert, please contact Theodore A. Penny at 213.542.8093 or tpenny@hbblaw.com or your preferred Haight Brown & Bonesteel LLP attorney. This communication may be considered advertising in some jurisdictions.