South Dakota Workers’ Compensation Attorneys Helping You Pursue Permanent Total Disability (PTD)
Last updated on February 20, 2026
If your injury means you will never realistically return to the workforce, workers’ compensation is no longer about getting you back to work. It is about securing support for life – the benefits you need when work is no longer an option.
Alvine Law Firm, LLP, is a Sioux Falls law firm with more than 25 years of trial experience. We fight for permanently injured workers – especially older, long-time manual laborers – whose injuries leave them without the ability to support themselves.
What Is Permanent Total Disability (PTD)?
Permanent Total Disability is the highest level of wage-loss benefits in South Dakota workers’ compensation. PTD is intended for workers who are permanently unable to perform any substantial, gainful work because of a work injury.
What Qualifies As A Permanent Total Disability?
Some injuries are so severe they generally meet PTD criteria without the same level of dispute. These include catastrophic losses such as the loss of two limbs, blindness, paralysis or severe brain injuries. Such life-changing injuries often lead to someone receiving benefits.
Unfortunately, insurance companies often pretend PTD requires being completely helpless or paralyzed. That is not the standard we use. We use the standard South Dakota courts actually apply.
The Odd-Lot Doctrine is a South Dakota legal rule that protects workers who are not totally incapacitated in a medical sense, but who are effectively unemployable. You can be found permanently and totally disabled under the odd-lot doctrine when the real-world factors stack against you. This could be the case for older workers who have limited education or no formal training outside manual labor, no computer or desk-job skills, chronic pain, medication side effects or restrictions that employers will not accommodate and a work history built around physical jobs that you cannot safely perform anymore.
Why Is It Important To Have An Attorney By Your Side When Applying For PTD
When insurers dismiss the real impact that an injury has on your ability to work, we challenge those claims with real evidence. We look at your medical restrictions, your functional limitations, credible vocational analysis and the reality of hiring in South Dakota for someone with your background and limitations.
We also understand that, when you are facing a lifetime out of the workforce, inflation matters. PTD is supposed to protect your future – not leave you falling behind year after year. We push for the best available outcome on cost of living adjustments (COLA) and long-term benefit security.
Protecting Your SSDI: Social Security Offset And Smart Settlement Structure
Many permanently disabled workers also receive (or apply for) Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). A poorly structured workers’ comp settlement can reduce your SSDI through a Social Security offset. This is one of the most expensive mistakes injured workers make when they try to settle without counsel.
At Alvine Law Firm, LLP, we structure settlements to help minimize or avoid unnecessary SSDI reduction when legally possible. This means the structure of your settlement will protect your access to SSDI.
We Can Help You Secure Your Future When You Cannot Work
At Alvine Law Firm, LLP, we build PTD cases for the workers who are truly done working – not because they want to be, but because their bodies will not let them. With more than 25 years of trial experience, we are prepared to make a case for permanent total disability under South Dakota law.
Contact Alvine Law Firm, LLP, to talk about Permanent Total Disability and what it would take to secure the support you deserve. You can start the conversation in a no-cost consultation with our team by calling 605-275-0808 or contacting our firm online.