Calculating wages received for teachers

[Labyrinth]

I am confused about how the pay is calculated for 10 month employees. First, I received TTD benefits divided by 10 months. Four months later, it was changed to 12 months which equated to about $80 less a week. I understand reasoning behind both, but what is it supposed to be? I live in North Carolina.

[LeglEgl]

Calculating the AWW (average weekly wage) of an IW is complicated. There are literally 5 different methods of calculation.

The key element here is the 52 week employment period. NC calculates AWW based on the earnings of the IW in the 52 weeks prior to the accident. I would have to make an educated guess that your 10-month contract would have to be converted to a 52-week schedule, since WC benefits are paid weekly.

Essentially, your 10-month pay system is converted to a 52-week pay system for purposes of benefit calculation. So, if you were not paid salary for the 2 months of employment, it's much like spreading your 10-month salary over 12 months.

[jayne]

do you work during your 2 months off? or do you get more schooling?many teachers here work a different job during that time. if so then they need that w-2 also

[LeglEgl]

(08-28-2011 09:20 AM)jayne Wrote:  do you work during your 2 months off? or do you get more schooling?many teachers here work a different job during that time. if so then they need that w-2 also

Excellent point to consider. ALL your wages from ALL employment needs to be considered for the AWW.

If you held a job during the 2 months off teaching, you'd want that to be considered as well. If not, and you were actually off without pay (theoretically) then the 10 months would probably be spread over 12 for calculation purposes. Just an educated guess.

[Bummer Knees]

I worked as an Early Childhood Teacher in Kansas when I was injured. I worked mid August thru mid May of the school years. I had summers off and stayed at home with my children working no other summer employment.

I always questioned if my pay had been calculated correctly by work comp and questioned my attorney about this.
He said a specific number of weeks were calculated prior to my injury, I was injured mid November of the school year. My attorney said the weeks counted were weeks I worked not the weeks I was off for the summer.

I realize work comp is state specific and what applys in one state may not apply in another state.

[LeglEgl]

Some States have a calculation whereby, if there isn't income at all for part of the considered period, they use the average weekly income for an employee in a "similarly situated position" for that period of time. All States vary on how that AWW is calculated, and many States have a terribly complex method of doing so.

[1171]

i think it depends on your your disability period and whether you are employed for the two months when you are not teaching.
if you are only disabled for the period in which you would be teaching and don't work for the two month you are off, then they could use your going wage or average your wages over 10 months.
if your disability spans both your teaching and non-teaching period then it would be appropriate to average your earnings over 12 months.
the goal is to most accurately replace what you would lose but for the injury.
of course, you can suggest a more equitable calculation.

[Labyrinth]

I guess I'm trying to find something concrete on NC law and school workers. I did read a ruling from Missouri in which they found it was unfair to calculate wages for 12 months when the school worker only worked 9 months.

I work every other summer. That's just what works best for me. It's usually just as a bartender/server, but one summer it was a part-time office job. My injury occurred in 2010, and it was my summer to work. It was very necessary as I was supposed to student teach that fall and would have had to take 10 weeks off to do so, but it never happened because I got hurt. Since I don't work every summer, they can't just base it on what my intentions were.

Thanks for all replies.

[LeglEgl]

I'm pretty sure the ER/IC isn't going to calculate "wage replacement" benefits based on an "intention" to work. You actually need to have some history of earnings. As I said before, however, they may calculate based on the AWW of another person who is "similarly situated" when there aren't enough documented wages prior to the date of injury. I don't find that in the code, but there is mention of alternative methods that aren't directly spelled out.

The most common, though not ONLY way of calculating AWW is to consider ALL earnings the year prior to the DOI (date of injury) and dividing by 52 weeks. The next most common means is, if the employment was less than 52 weeks, the total period of employment would be added and then divided by that number of weeks to average out all weekly earnings. (i.e., say you worked 40 weeks, all earnings added up and divided by 40).

Interestingly, the code (97-2) says "Average weekly wages" shall mean the earnings of the injured employee in the employment in which he was working at the time of the injury during the period of 52 weeks immediately preceding the date of the injury...."

I hope I'm wrong, but that almost sounds like if you had a different kind of job right before the teaching job (i.e., bartender/server) then those wages wouldn't count in the formula.

[1171]

the codes give general information on different ways earnings can be calculated.
case law is very specific to the particular situation.
so there is no one law just for North Carolina 10 month teachers.
and there may not be any North Carolina case law for a 10 month teacher that works every other summer.
but you can check here
http://www.ic.nc.gov/database.html