NRS Injury Law is Ohio’s largest workers’ compensation law firm. The firm’s industry knowledge, reputation, and team processes are key reasons why it remains the largest in the state.
One such process is the assessment of an injured worker’s wages. At the start of a workers’ compensation case, the client is asked one question that will impact the entire life cycle of their case: “How much did you earn in the last 52 weeks?” An injured worker’s benefits are tied directly to the previous 52 weeks of pay they received, and it is on the injured person to provide proof of their wages over that period.
NRS Injury Law’s Wage Collection Team has become invaluable in assisting the firm and its clients with this process.
Why is Wage Collection Information Critical
“A snapshot is taken on the day a worker becomes injured,” says Michael O’Neil, Partner at NRS Injury Law and someone who works closely with the Wage Collection Team. “Their claim is built on that moment in time and the 52 weeks leading up to it.”
O’Neil clarifies that, when a worker becomes injured, what may have happened had they not been injured (like a promotion, a transfer, a raise, or a bonus) is not relevant to their case. The wages a worker was making when they were injured and the wages they had earned in the 52 weeks leading up to the injury dictate the compensation they may be entitled to in the claim.
At the onset of a workers’ compensation case, NRS Injury Law’s attorneys collect wage information from the client and add up 52 weeks of paycheck stubs (or 26 weeks, when paid bi-weekly). The sum is then divided by 52 (or 26, if bi-weekly). That figure is the injured worker’s Average Weekly Wage, a critical figure which will be an important factor in determining the benefit amount for the injured worker.
Ohio state law dictates how much compensation an injured worker may be entitled to based on their Average Weekly Wage. The worker’s Full Weekly Wage calculation (the six weeks of pay the worker received before the injury, divided by six) is also used. Each case will have its own details and nuance, but all workers’ compensation cases in Ohio require the client to produce proof of their wages in the 6 and 52 weeks leading up to their injury.
Why NRS Injury Law Established a Wage Collection Team
“It’s much easier to build a winning workers’ compensation case when we get wage collection information at the start of the case rather than trying to source that information when the case is already moving along,” says O’Neil. “Building a case without knowing what the client earned for the past 6 and 52 weeks is like trying to build a house from the top down rather than the bottom up.”
The firm established the Wage Collection Team because, according to O’Neil, the “perfect scenario” of clients having access to 52 weeks of paycheck stubs is not usually the case (through no fault of the client’s). Sometimes, clients worked for multiple employers in the year leading up to their injury. They might have been paid in cash, via direct deposit, with goods, or via another method. They may have been unemployed for part of the year, or they may have been self-employed for part of the year.
“There’s a lot of math and data-finding involved in collecting wage information,” O’Neil said. “Now our clients have a dedicated team to work hand-in-hand with to establish wage information, which in turn frees up the case managers and attorneys to focus their attention on building winning cases for our clients.”
“It’s a critical case task,” O’Neil continued. “We have processes in place that the Wage Collection Team implements when clients don’t have 52 weeks of documented wage information on hand. The Wage Collection Team has quickly become essential in our day-to-day activities of providing genuine, zealous client advocacy.”
What Wage Information Collection Looks Like
Collecting wage information is an important first step. Working with your NRS Injury Law team to provide any/all of the following acceptable proof of wages will provide the information needed to determine the maximum benefit you are entitled to:
- Obtain and provide copies of paycheck stubs to your team
- Obtain and provide proof of electronic funds transfers or direct deposits to your team
- Map out periods of unemployment and determine any unemployment compensation with your team
- Map out income history through IRS filings, social security information, and payroll deductions with your team
The goal is to obtain a week-by-week breakdown of the injured person’s income for the year leading up to the injury.
Advice for Ohio Workers
There is much that workers can do to ensure, if they do become injured, that their wage information collection process goes smoothly during their claim. O’Neil and the Wage Collection Team members at NRS Injury Law can’t stress enough the importance of Ohio workers maintaining good documentation of their wages. Holding onto, organizing, and filing paycheck stubs from all jobs worked each year is essential. Workers should also save their 1099s, W-2s, tax filings, receipts, and copies of invoices for services rendered.
“We can’t stress enough the importance of accurate wage information,” O’Neil said in closing. “The Wage Collection Team helps our clients navigate a difficult area of Ohio workers’ compensation, because clients may have significant injuries and they may get medical care under their claim, but if their wages are thought to be low for the past 52 weeks (and defense council will try to make a case for that), or if not all the wages are accounted for, or if weeks that could be excluded from the calculation are not excluded, then the wage calculation is not going to accurately reflect previous earnings and our clients could end up not getting the fair compensation they’re owed.”
The income data clients provide to their attorneys will play a determinative role in workers’ compensation benefits, hence the importance of getting accurate figures. For questions about workplace injuries and work-related illnesses, and to learn about wage collection information and the rights of injured workers in Ohio, call 855-GOT-HURT or fill out a convenient Online Contact Form.
Disclaimer: The information in this blog post (“post”) is provided for general informational purposes only and may not reflect the current law in your jurisdiction. No information contained in this post should be construed as legal advice, nor is it intended to be a substitute for legal counsel on any subject matter. No reader of this post should act or refrain from acting based on any information included in, or accessible through this post, without seeking the appropriate legal or other professional advice on the particular facts and circumstances at issue from a lawyer licensed in the recipient’s state, country, or other appropriate licensing jurisdiction.
