Workers’ Compensation Benefits Often Unpaid

It is very common for the employer, or the insurance carrier, to improperly compute the average weekly wage, thereby shorting the injured worker. When mistakes are made you can easily guess who gets shorted.

No fringe benefits. The first method of shorting the injured worker is to fail to include discontinued fringe benefits in the calculation of the average weekly wage.

The weekly workers’ compensation rate is based upon the average weekly wage during the last year of work before the injury.

Sometimes the fringe benefits (insurance premiums, pension contributions, holiday pay, vacation pay, and bonuses) are simply ignored by the employer when the average weekly wage is calculated.

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