Average Weekly Wage Benefits
After suffering a serious workplace injury, you may not be able to return to work. Fortunately, under Minnesota’s workers’ compensation law, you can receive wage loss benefits. Meshbesher Law Firm has handled hundreds of workers’ compensation claims for injured workers. We can help you collect your lost wages so you can focus on recovering.
Wage Calculation
An injured employee who is unable to work due to an on-the-job injury will initially be eligible to receive wage loss benefits from his or her employer in the form of temporary total disability or temporary partial disability.
An injured employee’s average weekly wage on the date of injury will control the amount of benefits he or she is entitled to receive. To calculate an employee’s weekly wage, you multiply the worker’s daily wage by the number of days and partial days worked for the employer in a week.
Calculations for part-time employment, overtime, irregular wages and tips are as follows:
- Part-time employment and irregular wages – The total amount of wages, vacation pay and holiday pay earned in the 26 weeks prior to the injury gets divided by the number of days worked.
- Overtime – Calculations will only include regular overtime in average weekly wage calculation.
- Tips – Average weekly wage calculations may only include provable tip income.
- Status change – If the employee’s status changed from part time to full time in the 26 weeks prior to the accident, wage calculations should use the weeks the employee worked full time.
Under the current rules, the maximum weekly compensation rate payable in Minnesota is $850. The minimum weekly compensation payable is $130 per week or the injured employee’s actual weekly wage, whichever is less.
Start Collecting Your Lost Wages
Accurately calculating the average weekly wage is a crucial part of every workers’ compensation case. When you have suffered an injury on the job, the law entitles you to a number of benefits, including lost wages. While the process seems difficult and daunting, our attorneys can help you through it. We handle all the legwork for you so you can focus on healing rather than the stress of filing a claim.
To schedule a free consultation, contact the firm online or call 612-349-5215 today. From our office in Minneapolis, we serve clients statewide.