One of the first questions asked by an injured worker is “what will I be paid if I am unable to work to my full capacity?” The answer to this depends on the worker’s earnings prior to injury, their capacity to work following their injury and the amount of time they require off work.
Payments of weekly compensation are calculated based on the workers pre-injury average weekly earnings which are capped at a maximum rate.
In some situations the calculation of pre injury average weekly earnings will be a simple calculation of averaging the workers earnings for the previous 12 months or a lessor period of time when the worker has been employed for less than 12 months. But for many workers, especially those whose earnings include allowances and overtime the calculations will be more complicated as overtime is only included in the calculation of pre injury average weekly earnings for the first 52 weeks and in most cases allowances will be excluded from the calculation altogether. There may however be some situations in which allowances can be included in the calculations. If you are a worker who regularly worked overtime or received allowances as part of your wages, you should seek expert advice from our lawyers here at Taylor & Scott to ensure your payments have been calculated correctly.
Once a workers pre injury average weekly earnings have been calculated a workers entitlements to weekly compensation can be determined. The workers entitlements will be as follows:
- First 13 weeks: 95% of pre-injury average weekly earnings (PIAWE)
- After 13 weeks up to 130 weeks: 80% of pre injury average weekly earnings if the worker is not working or working less than 15 hours per week or 95% of pre-injury average weekly earnings if the worker is working 15 hours or more.
- After 130 weeks up to 260 weeks: 80% of pre-injury average weekly earnings but specific requirements must be satisfied for payments to continue after 130 weeks.
- After 260 weeks: 80% of pre-injury average weekly earnings but payments will only continue if a worker has 21% whole person impairment or more
Throughout the life of the claim a workers payments may be further reduced in situations where the worker has returned to work or has the capacity to work but has not yet returned to work either due to the employer having no suitable duties available or unemployment.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding your entitlement to weekly compensation or the calculation of your entitlements contact our expert lawyers in workers compensation here at Taylor & Scott by phoning us on 1800 600 664 or email us at info@tayscott.com.au.
Remember all workers compensation claims are run with a grant of legal assistance from WIRO meaning you pay no legal costs whatsoever.
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