Supreme Court Remands AWW / Maternity Leave Case

The Supreme Court granted the Claimant's Petition for Appeal in Rebel v. WCAB (Emery World Airlines #150). In this case, the Commonwealth Court held the Claimant remained "employed" and subject to the Section 309(d) average weekly wage calculation, even though there was a gap in wages due to the Claimant's maternity leave. March 16, 2004 post

The Supreme Court remanded the case to the Commonwealth Court for reconsideration in light of Hannaberry HVAC v. W.C.A.B., 834 A.2d 524 (Pa. 2003), and Colpetzer v. W.C.A.B., 870 A.2d 875 (Pa. 2005). The economic reality of the Claimant's pre-injury earning experience might lead the Commonwealth Court to conclude the average weekly wage must be calculated by some other method because the occurrence of maternity leave in the prior year has no relevance to the Claimant's earning potential in the following year. Depending on the facts, the Claimant may also have been incapable of performing services for valuable consideration, and therefore could not have been "employed".