Senate Bill sb2282

    Florida Senate - 2003                                  SB 2282

    By Senator Aronberg





    27-1568-03                                          See HB 927

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to workers' compensation;

  3         amending s. 440.14, F.S.; revising the basis

  4         upon which to compute average weekly wages for

  5         purposes of compensation; providing an

  6         effective date.

  7  

  8  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

  9  

10         Section 1.  Subsection (1) of section 440.14, Florida

11  Statutes, is amended to read:

12         440.14  Determination of pay.--

13         (1)  Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, the

14  average weekly wages of the injured employee as of the date of

15  the accident at the time of the injury shall be taken as the

16  basis upon which to compute compensation and shall be

17  determined, subject to the limitations of s. 440.12(2), as

18  follows:

19         (a)  If the injured employee has worked in the

20  employment in which she or he was working as of the date of

21  the accident at the time of the injury, whether for the same

22  or another employer, during substantially the whole of 13

23  weeks immediately preceding the injury, her or his average

24  weekly wage shall be one-thirteenth of the total amount of

25  wages earned in such employment during the 13 weeks. As used

26  in this paragraph, the term "substantially the whole of 13

27  weeks" means the calendar shall be deemed to mean and refer to

28  a constructive period of 13 weeks as a whole, which shall be

29  defined as the 13 weeks before the date of the accident,

30  excluding the week during which the accident occurred. a

31  consecutive period of 91 days, and The term "during

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    Florida Senate - 2003                                  SB 2282
    27-1568-03                                          See HB 927




 1  substantially the whole of 13 weeks" shall be deemed to mean

 2  during not less than 75 90 percent of the total customary

 3  full-time hours of employment within such period considered as

 4  a whole.

 5         (b)  If the injured employee has not worked in such

 6  employment during substantially the whole of 13 weeks

 7  immediately preceding the injury, the wages of a similar

 8  employee in the same employment who has worked substantially

 9  the whole of such 13 weeks shall be used in making the

10  determination under the preceding paragraph.

11         (c)  If an employee is a seasonal worker and the

12  foregoing method cannot be fairly applied in determining the

13  average weekly wage, then the employee may use, instead of the

14  13 weeks immediately preceding the injury, the calendar year

15  or the 52 weeks immediately preceding the injury. The employee

16  will have the burden of proving that this method will be more

17  reasonable and fairer than the method set forth in paragraphs

18  (a) and (b) and, further, must document prior earnings with

19  W-2 forms, written wage statements, or income tax returns. The

20  employer shall have 30 days following the receipt of this

21  written proof to adjust the compensation rate, including the

22  making of any additional payment due for prior weekly

23  payments, based on the lower rate compensation.

24         (d)  If any of the foregoing methods cannot reasonably

25  and fairly be applied, the full-time weekly wages of the

26  injured employee shall be used, except as otherwise provided

27  in paragraph (e) or paragraph (f).

28         (e)  If it is established that the injured employee was

29  under 22 years of age when injured and that under normal

30  conditions her or his wages should be expected to increase

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    Florida Senate - 2003                                  SB 2282
    27-1568-03                                          See HB 927




 1  during the period of disability, the fact may be considered in

 2  arriving at her or his average weekly wages.

 3         (f)  If it is established that the injured employee was

 4  a part-time worker at the time of the injury, that she or he

 5  had adopted part-time employment as a customary practice, and

 6  that under normal working conditions she or he probably would

 7  have remained a part-time worker during the period of

 8  disability, these factors shall be considered in arriving at

 9  her or his average weekly wages. For the purpose of this

10  paragraph, the term "part-time worker" means an individual who

11  customarily works less than the full-time hours or full-time

12  workweek of a similar employee in the same employment.

13         (g)  If compensation is due for a fractional part of

14  the week, the compensation for such fractional part shall be

15  determined by dividing the weekly compensation rate by the

16  number of days employed per week to compute the amount due for

17  each day.

18         Section 2.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a

19  law.

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