This study was designed to examine whether claimants for compensation for work-related respiratory impairment due to chronic airflow obstruction exhibited greater symptoms of disablement than other patients with similar obstruction. It also sought evidence of bias, either towards or against the claimants, by the medical examiners. One hundred and twenty-eight subjects (68 claimants) with chronic asthma, chronic bronchitis, and emphysema were studied. There was a reasonable concordance of subjective judgements between patients and medical examiners in 81% of the disabled workers, and in 90% of the other medical group. Similarly, impairment of lung function (FEV1/VC ratio) in both groups was comparable at most levels of subjective disability. It was concluded that, in contrast to some previous reports, claimants for compensation for work-related chronic obstructive airway diseases did not tend to exaggerate their disabilities. This does not imply that the claimants' ailments were necessarily occupation-related.