Often, injured workers were working two jobs at the time of their injury. Unfortunately, when many people are injured at one job, their injuries are severe enough to keep them from being able to perform the tasks of their other job.
Fortunately, in the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act, there is a provision that allows for “concurrent earnings.” The general rule is that an injured worker will receive two thirds of their earnings from both jobs, subject to any maximum benefit limits. If you earn $600.00 per week working as a mechanic and you break your arm, you would be entitled to list wages benefits of $400.00. However, if you had a second job, which the broken arm also prevented you from doing, say a warehouse loader at $300.00 per week, you would be entitled to an additional $200.00 per week in lost wages.
Many of our clients are reluctant to inform their other employers that they have suffered a work injury. We remind our clients that getting wage information from other employers is important to allow us to ensure that they are paid the highest and most accurate amount of workers’ compensation disability benefits possible under the act.
We are happy to speak with anyone who finds themselves in this position and would be willing to walk them through the steps they need to take to be sure that there workers’ compensation disability benefits are being calculated accurately.