OAR 436-120-0147: Establishing the Adjusted Weekly Wage

(1) General provisions. (a) To determine a suitable wage the insurer must first establish the adjusted weekly wage as described in this rule. (b) The insurer must calculate the adjusted weekly wage whenever determining or redetermining a worker's eligibility for vocational assistance. (c) All figures used in determining a weekly wage by this method must be supported by verifiable documentation such as the worker’s state or federal tax returns, payroll records, or reports of earnings or unemployment insurance payments from the Oregon Employment Department. (d) If the insurer is unable to obtain complete information to calculate the weekly wage under section (3) of this rule, but the worker does provide verifiable documentation to establish wages at the time of injury, the insurer must make a reasonable calculation of the worker’s weekly wage based on the verifiable documentation available. (2) Definitions. For the purposes of this rule, the following definitions apply: (a) “Adjusted weekly wage” is the wage currently paid as calculated under this rule. (b) “Cost-of-living adjustments” or “collective bargaining adjustments” are increases or decreases in the wages of all workers performing the same or similar jobs for a specific employer. These adjustments are not variations in wages based on skills, merit, seniority, length of employment, or number of hours worked. (c) “Earned income” means gross wages, salary, tips, commissions, incentive pay, bonuses, and the reasonable value of other consideration (such as housing, utilities, and food) received from all employers for services performed from all jobs held at the time of injury or aggravation. Earned income also means gross earnings from self-employment after deductions of business expenses excluding depreciation. Earned income does not include fringe benefits such as medical, life, or disability insurance, employer contributions to pension plans, or reimbursement of the worker’s employment expenses such as mileage or equipment rental. (d) “Job at aggravation” means the job or jobs the worker held on the date of the aggravation claim or, for a worker not employed at the time of aggravation, the last job or concurrent jobs held before the aggravation. The job does not need to be subject employment. Volunteer work is not a job for purposes of this subsection unless the worker is a subject worker under ORS 656.031 or 656.039, and the worker originally sustained the compensable injury at the volunteer job. (e) “Job at injury” is the job on which the worker originally sustained the compensable injury. For an occupational disease, the job at injury is the job the worker held at the time there is medical verification that the worker is unable to work because of the disability caused by the occupational disease. Volunteer work is not a job for purposes of this subsection unless the worker is a subject worker under ORS 656.031 or 656.039, and the worker originally sustained the compensable injury at the volunteer job. (f) “Permanent employment” is a job with no projected end date or a job that had no projected end date at the time of hire. Permanent employment may be year-round or seasonal. (g) “Permanent, year-round employment” is permanent employment in which the worker worked or was scheduled or projected to work in 48 or more calendar weeks a year. Paid leave is counted as work time. Permanent year-round employment includes trial service. It does not include employment with an annual salary set by contract or self-employment. (h) “Temporary disability” means wage loss replacement for the job at injury. (i) “Time of injury” means, in the case of an injury, the date of injury or, in the case of an occupational disease, the time there is medical verification that the worker is unable to work because of the disability caused by the occupational disease. (j) “Trial service” is employment designed to lead automatically to permanent, year-round employment subject only to the employee’s satisfactory performance during the trial service period. (3) Determining weekly wage. The insurer must determine the nature of the job at injury and any other paid jobs held at the time of injury, or the job or jobs at aggravation, and this must include contacting the employer at injury to verify the worker’s employment status. (a) When the job at injury or any other paid jobs held at the time of injury, or the job at aggravation was seasonal or temporary , calculate the worker’s weekly wage as follows, then convert to the adjusted weekly wage as described in section (4) of this rule: (A) When the worker’s regular employment is the job at injury and the worker did not hold more than one job at the time of injury, and did not receive unemployment insurance benefits during the 52 weeks before the injury, use the same wage upon which temporary disability was based. (B) When the worker’s regular employment is the job at aggravation and the worker did not hold more than one job at the time of aggravation, and did not receive unemployment insurance benefits during the 52 weeks before the aggravation, use the same methods used to calculate temporary disability as described under OAR 436-060-0025 that was in effect on the date of injury. (C) When the worker held more than one job at the time of injury or aggravation, and did not receive unemployment insurance payments during the 52 weeks before the date of the injury or aggravation, divide the worker’s earned income by the number of weeks the worker worked in those jobs during the 52 weeks before the date of injury or aggravation. (D) When the worker held one or more jobs at the time of injury or aggravation, and received unemployment insurance payments during the 52 weeks before the date of the injury or aggravation, combine the earned income with the unemployment insurance payments and divide the total by the number of weeks the worker worked in those jobs and received unemployment insurance payments during the 52 weeks before the date of the injury or aggravation. (b) When subsection (3)(a) of this rule does not apply, calculate the worker’s weekly wage as follows, then convert to the adjusted weekly wage as described in section (4) of this rule: (A) When the worker’s regular employment is the job at injury and the worker did not hold more than one job at the time of injury, use the same wage upon which temporary disability was based. (B) When the worker’s regular employment is the job at injury and the worker held more than one job at the time of injury, use the same methods used to calculate temporary disability as described under OAR 436-060-0025 that was in effect on the date of injury. The job does not need to be subject employment. (C) When the worker’s regular employment is the job at aggravation , use the same methods used to calculate temporary disability as described under OAR 436-060-0025 that was in effect on the date of injury. (c) When a volunteer job is the job at injury or job at aggravation, the wage for the volunteer job is based on the assumed wage used to determine the employer’s premium. (4) Adjusted weekly wage. After arriving at the worker’s weekly wage under section (3) of this rule, establish the adjusted weekly wage by determining the percentage increase or decrease from the date of injury or aggravation, or last day worked before aggravation, to the date of calculation, as follows: (a) Contact the employer at injury regarding any cost-of-living or collective bargaining adjustments for workers performing the same job. Adjust the total of all of the weekly wages from section (3) of this rule by any percentage increase or decrease; (b) If the employer at injury is no longer in business and the worker's job was covered by a union contract, contact the applicable union for any cost-of-living or collective bargaining adjustments. Adjust the total of all of the weekly wages from section (3) of this rule by the percentage increase or decrease; (c) If the employer at injury is no longer in business or does not currently employ workers in the same job category, adjust the total of all of the weekly wages from section (3) of this rule by the appropriate factor from the cost-of-living matrix in Bulletin 124; or (d) If the worker’s regular employment was the employment the worker held at the time of aggravation, adjust the total of all of the weekly wages from section (3) of this rule by the appropriate factor from the cost-of-living matrix in Bulletin 124.