Practice Areas

• Workers' Compensation
• Personal Injury
• Social Security Disability

Firm News

• Workers Compensation: North Carolina Industrial Commission shows we beat both AIG and Zurich in proving that this truck driver for a brick company had two separate accidents which both injured his knee, ultimately disabling him....
• Workers' Compensation: North Carolina Industrial Commission says Liberty Mutual must provide yardcare and housecleaning to an injured brickmason....
• Workers' Compensation: North Carolina Industrial Commission rules that a restaurant dishwasher who slipped and fell, and was taken straight to an emergency room has proven that he was injured on the job....
• Workers' Compensation: North Carolina Industrial Commission sanctions against the insurance company for failing to accept a claim when our client, an insulation installer, was in an auto accident....
• Workers' Compensation: North Carolina Industrial Commission: The Vocational Rehabilitation Professional, from Page Rehabilitation, had a "strained interpretation of suitable employment and the duration of her proposed job search raises serious questions as to whether her objective was to benefit plaintiff or defendants."...
• Workers' Compensation: North Carolina Industrial Commission rules against The Hartford Insurance Company and holds that a nurse who was still on her employer's property when she was hit by a car is within the course and scope of her employment and entitled to workers' compensation benefits....
• Workers' Compensation: North Carolina Industrial Commission finds that Diebold and Broadspire MUST pay weekly benefits even after they fired the injured worker from her "light duty" job....
• North Carolina Industrial Commission: OTP Lawyers stepped in to save an injured plumber whose original lawyer couldn't get the job done against Key Risk....
• North Carolina Industrial Commission: Facing down the Argonaut workers' compensation adjuster in a disputed carpal tunnel case...
• North Carolina Industrial Commission: In this case with Kemper Insurance company the NCIC found that the employer, Cintas, "schemed" to fire plaintiff while she was on light duty....

view all

Library

Workers' Compensation

• Workers' Comp Tips
• My Employer Says They Don't Have Workers Comp Insurance
• What is the Present Value of Money and Why Should I Care?
• Five Ways Doctors Can Hurt Your Case
• An Eleventh Way to Wreck a Workers' Comp Claim

view all

Testimonials

"From the initial interview until the check came I was treated like family. I have and will continue to recommend you to friends and family."

"I was impressed with your firm from the beginning... Although I'm sure you are totally busy with cases I always felt as though mine were the only one you were handling. All my calls were promptly returned and I really appreciate that."

"You were right up front about what the workers' compensation adjuster would try to do. I did not know anything about workers' compensation laws. I think your firm did an amazing job for me and my family."

"You were abale to spot the problems immediately and fix them."

"There's no way I could have gotten the same results without your help."

"Your office a very, very profesional office. You have always treated me with great respect, honesty, and integrity."

"You absolutely are the experts in Workers' Compensation law. You never made me feel foolish."

"You know every aspect of workers' comp and used that to my benefit."

"You were very knowledgeable and treated me with utmost respect."

"I never had another worry after hiring you."

more

Oxner Thomas + Permar Blog

Workers' Compensation

9/21/2008
Todd Oxner
Comments (0)
North Carolina Supreme Court rules against injured workers
Our North Carolina Supreme Court has ruled against injured workers again in a recent case. As most of you know an injured worker is entitled to be paid 2/3 of her average weekly wages if she's unable to work. What all goes into "wages?" Ten years ago the Court of Appeals had excluded fringe benefits like health insurance and vacations. That decision was largely based on the idea that it is too hard to put a value on health insurance while it is eay to calculate your hourly payrate or salary.  But what about an employer who matches your contributions to a retirement plan? As employers we can tell you that many employees are willing to make a little less if there is good health insurance, vacations, and a retirement plan. Those of you who have had unions negotiating contracts on your behalf know that the cost of the benefit package is a tradeoff against the hourly rate of pay.

But now the Supreme Court has said that contributions to your retirement plan -- even if these are made explicitly in exchange for a reduce in your hourly rate of pay -- do not count toward your average weekly wage. In doing so the Court said it would leave it to the legislature to be more specific about what it intended. While this decision might not have been completely unexpected we still find it disappointing. In our minds, if the Industrial Commission or the courts are unclear about who to favor: big employers and their insurance companies on one side or workers injured and out of work on the other, they should always err on the side of helping an injured worker.

Labels: Insurance North Carolina Industrial Commission, North Carolina Supreme Court, workers compensation

Comments

Post a comment

Post a Comment to "North Carolina Supreme Court rules against injured workers"