08-29-2011, 04:39 PM
I can understand NC code 97-2 and how it is intended to work.
Let's say you were employed as a basket maker for 38 weeks and were making $1,000 a week. The market fell, so the plant closed down. You finally found a job teaching at $500 a week for 12 weeks. If the AWW was based on the $1,000 a week for 38 weeks, plus the $500 a week for 12 weeks, you could essentially be getting benefits of about $563 (2/3 of the AWW), which exceeds your gross from the last employer. (Of course all these numbers are just made up.) This would theoretically "reward" you for going out on disability.
I'm thinking that's why the phrase "in the employment in which he was working at the time of the injury" rather than ALL earnings over the past 52 weeks.
Again, I'm just presenting this for illustration. Not analyzing.
Let's say you were employed as a basket maker for 38 weeks and were making $1,000 a week. The market fell, so the plant closed down. You finally found a job teaching at $500 a week for 12 weeks. If the AWW was based on the $1,000 a week for 38 weeks, plus the $500 a week for 12 weeks, you could essentially be getting benefits of about $563 (2/3 of the AWW), which exceeds your gross from the last employer. (Of course all these numbers are just made up.) This would theoretically "reward" you for going out on disability.
I'm thinking that's why the phrase "in the employment in which he was working at the time of the injury" rather than ALL earnings over the past 52 weeks.
Again, I'm just presenting this for illustration. Not analyzing.
DISCLAIMER: I am not an attorney. While drawing from my professional training and experience in law enforcement and as a former Paralegal, no comments offered should be considered as legal advice.