When you work part-time, not being able to work makes it tough to get by. If you have a workplace injury and have heard about wage replacement or wage loss benefits, you may wonder if you are eligible for these as a part-time worker. Luckily, Minnesota law accounts for part-time workers in its workers’ compensation laws.
Employees can get workers’ compensation benefits when they take time off work to recover from a work-related injury. When a worker is not doing any work but may be able to return after some recovery time, he or she can receive temporary total disability (TTD) benefits. If a workers continues to be disabled by the injury for some time and TTD benefits run out, he may receive temporary or total permanent disability benefits. TTD and TPD benefits both are based on the worker’s gross weekly wage at the time of injury.
The insurance company should calculate part-time employees’ gross weekly wage using earnings during the 26 weeks prior to the injury. Vacation or holiday pay received during that time is included. The total amount an employee earns during the 26 weeks is divided by the total number of days the employee performed work during that time. This is the average daily wage. Next, the total number of days the employee worked is divided by the number of weeks the employee worked, including vacation or holiday weeks. This is the average number of days worked per week.
The average daily wage is multiplied by the average number of days worked per week to get the gross weekly wage for a part-time employee. Employees will receive two-thirds of this gross weekly wage as TTD benefits. Benefits calculations are different for TPD and other types of wage replacement.
Seasonal or periodic workers should have their gross weekly wage calculated the same as above. However, these workers may not have performed very much work in the preceding 26 weeks. To fix this problem, the law says that their gross weekly wage cannot be less than five times their daily wage for purposes of receiving benefits.
Keep in mind that if you have two part-time jobs, your wage loss benefits must be calculated using the total wages and days worked from both jobs. You need to tell your employer where you were working when injured and its insurance company about your other job so that they can factor those wages into the benefits calculation.
Need help getting workers’ compensation for your injury at a part-time job? Joe Osterbauer, Esq. and the Osterbauer Law Firm stand up for injured Minnesota workers’ rights. Joe’s 27 years of workers’ compensation experience and his team’s speedy service combine to get clients the results they need. To schedule a free consultation, visit Osterbauer Law Firm online or call Joe’s office at (612) 334-3434.
