Dangers and risks at work can take you out of commission for days, weeks, or even years. But if you work multiple jobs, an injury at one job potentially takes you away from work at your other job(s), too. When this happens, can you get compensation for all of the income you miss from your injury?
Generally, your Workers’ Comp claim pays wage-loss benefits based on all jobs you were working at the time of injury. Wages received from all concurrent, separate employment are used to determine the Average Weekly Wage to calculate compensation payable by the liable employer. However, there are some complications and issues with calculating these benefits, and you should always work with a lawyer.
For a free case review, call Cardamone Law’s Certified Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Lawyers at (267) 651-7945 today.
Does Workers’ Comp Cover Multiple Incomes?
The idea behind Workers’ Comp is that if you get injured in service of your employer, your employer has to pay for your medical care and lost wages. But what if you had multiple jobs you now can’t work?
Are Multiple Jobs Covered?
Workers’ Comp pays you back for around 2/3 of the wages you lost because of your injury (subject to certain caps and floors). That means paying for all lost wages, not just the wages you lost at this one job where you were hurt.
Who’s Responsible for Paying?
If you work multiple jobs as an employee, then you would have Workers’ Comp at each of your jobs. However, the only employer you file your claim with is the employer you were actively working for when you got hurt.
Your other employers do not usually chip in to cover your injuries or Workers’ Comp benefits, just the one.
“Concurrent” Requirement
You are typically only “on the clock” for one job at a time, but you need to show that you are still “employed” at the other jobs to get benefits for those lost wages, too. This is known as “concurrent” employment.
Ongoing Relationship
To show your employment is concurrent, you need to show you had an ongoing relationship with those other employers; that the employment relationship remains sufficiently intact. For example, the fact that you haven’t gotten a shift in a week at your other job, which caused you to pick up extra at this job, doesn’t mean that you were fired from your other job or anything like that. You should still be able to count that job’s expected income.
Predictable Income
This only works when the employee’s past earning experience at the other jobs remains a valid predictor of future earnings loss. Work with our Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation lawyers if you have any doubts or your employer tries to reject coverage for other wages on the grounds that they aren’t good predictors.
Calculating Lost Wages
Under Workers’ Compensation rules, wage-loss benefits are based on your pre-injury average weekly wage (AWW).
Calculating AWW
The Workers’ Comp Act contains multiple methods for calculating your average wage on a weekly basis. If you get paid weekly, you typically use that value, but if you get paid a salary, monthly wage, or hourly wage – or you use some other payment method – then there are rules for calculating the AWW.
These are often more lenient than a straight mathematical average. For example, you calculate the AWW from hourly wages by looking at the last year in 13-week chunks, then drop the lowest-paying 13-week period out of the equation instead of taking the straight average.
Accounting for Multiple Jobs
If you work concurrently at multiple jobs, then you count all jobs as though your wages were coming from the liable employer. This is explicit in the Workers’ Comp Act.
That means that you find the AWW from each job, then add them together to get your overall AWW.
What if You Can Still Work Your Other Job?
Some people have a mix of physically demanding and more sedentary or “desk” jobs. Being injured and unable to work the physical job might leave you still able to make some income at the other job.
This can be taken into account when calculating wage-loss benefits.
Calculating Your Wage-Loss Payments
From there, you have to check what rate you are entitled to. If you cannot work at all, then
- Your rate is usually 2/3 of your total AWW.
- If 2/3 of your total AWW is over the statewide AWW, your benefits max out at the statewide AWW.
- If 2/3 of your total AWW is under 1/2 of the statewide AWW, you get the lower of 1/2 the statewide AWW or 90% of your total AWW.
If you are working to some extent, then your benefits are 2/3 of the difference between your pre-injury AWW (from all jobs) and your current AWW (calculated in the same fashion discussed above).
Is Freelance, Self-Employed, Gig Work, or Independent Contractor Income Covered?
If you qualify as an “independent contractor” or are self-employed, a freelancer, or perform “gig-work,” then you do not have an “employer” and cannot file a Workers’ Comp claim for injuries at that job. But what if you were injured at another job where you are an “employee”?
The Issue
While independent contracting income would not be covered for a Workers’ Comp claim through that contracting job, this question is whether it should be covered in a claim through a different job.
If we count income from all jobs, why should it matter if they are independent contractor positions or not? It’s still your employer’s responsibility that you can no longer work, so shouldn’t all lost income be accounted for?
The Rule
Generally, Workers’ Comp only considers income from jobs where you would have been eligible for Workers’ Comp coverage if you were injured at that job. Since independent contracting work is not eligible, then income from that job/those jobs would not be included in the calculation, even if your claim is through a job where you are an employee.
Exceptions
However, it is always possible that you are misclassified as an independent contractor at the other job. If that is the case, and you are actually an employee, then your income from that job should count toward your AWW calculations like any other concurrent employment would.
FAQs for Calculating Workers’ Comp with Multiple Jobs
Is Seasonal Work Covered?
If one of your jobs is seasonal, you might not be working it right now when you got injured, but you would have worked that job again soon. The fact that you have an ongoing relationship with that seasonal employer and will miss income because of this injury is often enough to show that your seasonal wages should be included in your calculations.
What Are Indemnity Benefits?
“Indemnity benefits” is just another name for wage-loss benefits.
How Long Do I Need to Be Disabled to Qualify?
Wage-loss benefits are only available if an injury keeps you from working for at least 7 days. If you are out of work for at least 14 days, then you get back pay for those first 7 days.
Call Our Workers’ Compensation Lawyers in Pennsylvania Today
For your free case review, call Cardamone Law’s Philadelphia Workers’ Compensation attorneys at (267) 651-7945.
