The recent Commonwealth Court case of Lidey v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (Tropical Amusements), 726 C.D. 2016, serves to remind the claimant’s practitioner that the injured workers’ average weekly wage (AWW) should be reviewed for accuracy in every case. Given the many different ways to determine an AWW, the employer and insurance company often make both simple and complex errors in the wage that gets acknowledged on various bureau documents. Even if the AWW is figured correctly, it is not uncommon to see an inaccurate compensation rate due either to the defendant applying the wrong percentage, or neglecting to identify the range of AWWs which warrant a fixed compensation rate.
In Lidey, the claimant was injured in 2013 and the employer accepted the claim via notice of compensation payable (NCP) which acknowledged an AWW of $640, and a corresponding compensation rate of $458.50, which was dictated by the “middle range” in 2013. In 2014, the claimant filed a petition to review compensation benefits, seeking to alter the average weekly wage and compensation rate to much higher numbers.
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