Greetings, according to the U.S. Dept of Labor, approximately 5% of Floridians have a 2nd job. There are some nuances and challenges to calculating a claimant’s Average Weekly Wage and TPD when there is concurrent employment.
- The 2nd job must be covered employment for WC purposes (440.02.40), and that income must be reported for Federal income tax purposes.
- The claimant must be employed at the concurrent employment at the time of the accident, and that job is expected to continue after the accident. If they quit the week before our accident or if the 2nd job was going to start after the accident it most likely will not be included in the AWW. (Cato Corp v. Stuart, 711 So.2d 1375 (Fla. 1st DCA 1998))
- It is the claimant’s burden to provide the wages from the concurrent employment, and you do not owe Penalties and Interest for the late payments due to the claimant not getting you the concurrent wages to calculate the AWW. (see the statute below) We do have to pay timely after receipt though.
- In calculating our AWW, we have to do a lot of maneuverings to get it right for our employer; substantially the whole of 13 weeks, similar employee method, etc…Not so with concurrent earnings. Simply take the concurrent earnings, whether it is one week they worked out of 13 or eight weeks, and divide by 13. Then add that to your AWW. (Walmart Stores v. Campbell, 714 So.2d 436 (Fla. 1st DCA 1998))
- Once you have the AWW including the concurrent earnings, that number is what you use for the TPD 80%/80% formula to see if you owe lost wages. For post-accident earnings from the 2nd job, send DWC-19 Earnings Reports for the claimant to complete for the concurrent employment to see if there is a loss of earnings.
440.14 (5)(a) If the lost wages from concurrent employment are used in calculating the average weekly wage, the employee is responsible for providing information concerning the loss of earnings from the concurrent employment.
(b) The employee waives any entitlement to interest, penalties, and attorney’s fees during the period in which the employee has not provided information concerning the loss of earnings from concurrent employment. Carriers are not subject to penalties under s. 440.20(8)(b) for unpaid compensation related to concurrent employment during the period in which the employee has not provided information concerning the loss of earnings from concurrent employment.
As always, if you have questions or need help with a claim, please feel free to reach out!
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Sincerely,
Morgan Indek | Managing Partner