Commonwealth Court Reinforces Principle That Average Weekly Wage Calculations Should Be Made According To The Act’s Provisions.

In Lahr Mechanical, et al. v. WCAB (Floyd) the WCJ accepted the Claimant’s testimony about his expected wages and hours to make a Section 309(d.2) average weekly wage calculation. The Claimant testified he expected the prevailing rate. The Claimant was actually paid at three different rates: local, prevailing and overtime.

On appeal by the Employer, the Board averaged the Claimant’s rates. This resulted in a slightly lower AWW than the one found by the WCJ.

The Court reinstated the findings of the WCJ. Recent cases have allowed average weekly wage calculations outside the framework of the Act’s provisions, but the preferred disposition is to make findings of fact that allow a calculation within the framework of Section 309, as the WCJ did in this case.