Given pre-injury weekly earnings of $1,300 and post-injury earnings of $450, what is the wage-loss TD rate?

Given pre-injury weekly earnings of $1,300 and post-injury earnings of $450, what is the wage-loss TD rate?

• A. $566.67
• B. $850.00
• C. $866.67
• D. $986.69

Answer: (A)

Temporary disability wage-loss benefits are based on the actual wage loss, not the full pre-injury pay. You first find how much earnings were lost by subtracting post-injury wages from pre-injury wages, then pay two-thirds of that loss. Here, pre-injury earnings are 1,300 and post-injury earnings are 450, so the wage loss is 1,300 − 450 = 850. Two-thirds of that loss is 850 × 2/3 = 566.67. So the wage-loss TD rate is 566.67. This differs from taking two-thirds of pre-injury earnings (which would be 866.67) because the benefit reflects only the portion of wages actually lost, after accounting for what is earned post-injury.

Temporary disability wage-loss benefits are based on the actual wage loss, not the full pre-injury pay. You first find how much earnings were lost by subtracting post-injury wages from pre-injury wages, then pay two-thirds of that loss.

Here, pre-injury earnings are 1,300 and post-injury earnings are 450, so the wage loss is 1,300 − 450 = 850. Two-thirds of that loss is 850 × 2/3 = 566.67.

So the wage-loss TD rate is 566.67. This differs from taking two-thirds of pre-injury earnings (which would be 866.67) because the benefit reflects only the portion of wages actually lost, after accounting for what is earned post-injury.