Hand Crush, Light Duty, and a Miscomputed Average Weekly Wage
Nathan has welded for a Bangor fabricator for seven years. He earns $24.50 an hour for 40 hours and typically works 6 hours of overtime at $36.75. In the 52 weeks before his injury he also received a $2,600 year-end bonus; his employer paid $460 a month for his family health coverage and matched 4% of his 401(k) contributions. On January 14 he crushes his left hand in a press brake and is off work six weeks. He then returns at $17.00 an hour for 32 hours a week in the shipping department, a job his physician approved with a 20-pound lifting restriction and no repetitive gripping. The insurer paid six weeks of benefits computed on an average weekly wage of $980 - base pay only - and stopped paying entirely when he returned to light duty. Nathan's attorney disputes the wage calculation and argues the light-duty job is unsuitable because it eliminates overtime and is outside his trade. You must confirm the Board's published maximum weekly benefit for the injury date before finalizing any rate.
1. Compute the correct average weekly wage and explain what is included and excluded.
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Maine computes the average weekly wage from gross earnings over the 52 weeks before the injury, then converts to a compensation rate of 80% of the spendable (after-tax) wage, subject to the statutory maximum and minimum in effect on the injury date.
| Component | Weekly value | Included? |
|---|---|---|
| Base: 40 × $24.50 | $980.00 | Yes |
| Overtime: 6 × $36.75 | $220.50 | Yes - regular, recurring overtime is earnings |
| Bonus: $2,600 ÷ 52 | $50.00 | Yes - prorated over the 52 weeks |
| Health premium: $460/month | - | No - employer-paid fringe benefit |
| 401(k) match at 4% | - | No - employer contribution, not wages |
Average weekly wage: $1,250.50, not $980 - an understatement of $270.50 per week, or 27.6%.
Next, compute spendable wage. Apply the actual withholding (federal, FICA, Maine income tax) or the Board's tax tables to $1,250.50; for illustration, at roughly 22% total withholding the spendable wage is about $975. The compensation rate is 80% of that, roughly $780 per week, then tested against the published state maximum and minimum for a January 14 injury. If $780 is under the maximum, it stands. If the Board's maximum is lower, the maximum controls. Document the tax assumptions in the file - a rate built on bare base pay is wrong on its face and will be corrected retroactively with the difference owed.
2. Nathan is back at work at reduced hours and pay. Explain his entitlement now and compute an illustrative partial rate.
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Returning to light duty does not end the claim; it converts it. Maine pays partial incapacity benefits at 80% of the difference between the spendable average weekly wage and the spendable wage the employee is actually earning - the wage-loss model, not a flat two-thirds of the difference.
Illustration using the corrected numbers:
- Spendable AWW (from the prior task): about $975.
- Actual wages: 32 × $17.00 = $544 gross; at roughly 15% withholding, about $462 spendable.
- Wage loss: $975 − $462 = $513.
- Partial rate: 80% × $513 = about $410 per week, subject to the state maximum.
Note what this does to the insurer's position: it stopped paying entirely on the theory that any return to work ends benefits. That is wrong. It owes a partial rate, and it owes the underpayment on the first six weeks at the corrected full rate.
One more variable: if Nathan's restrictions later lift and he returns to welding wages, the partial benefit reduces to zero. Diarize for a wage statement every pay period so the credit stays accurate rather than being reconstructed months later.
3. How should you handle the suitability dispute over the light-duty job and the retroactive underpayment?
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Suitability. The test is whether the offered job is bona fide, within the physician's restrictions, and reasonably attainable. The shipping job fits the 20-pound and no-repetitive-gripping restrictions, so it is not obviously unsuitable. Losing overtime and leaving the welding trade are arguments about wage loss, not about whether the job is offered in good faith - and the wage-loss formula already captures the lost overtime. What would make the job unsuitable is a mismatch with restrictions, a make-work assignment, or hours the physician did not approve. Get the written offer, the job description, and the physician's sign-off into the file. If Nathan refuses a bona fide suitable offer, the insurer may seek suspension; that is a Board determination, not an adjuster's unilateral call.
Retroactive money. Maine's waiting period is seven days, but those days become payable retroactively once incapacity extends beyond the statutory threshold (14 days); a six-week absence clears that threshold, so all six weeks are owed, not five. Recompute at the corrected rate of roughly $780, compare against what was paid at $980-based figures, and issue a supplemental check with a written explanation of the recalculation.
Dispute posture. Self-correct the rate before the attorney files - voluntary correction with a written reconciliation is far cheaper than a Board petition with penalties. Notify the Board as required on the first report and subsequent reports, and if the physician's restrictions are contested, schedule an independent medical examination and send Nathan written notice of the appointment, the consequences of non-attendance, and his right to have his own physician present or review the report.