Getting Paid for Overtime in Workers’ Compensation

Some of the hardest working men and women in our country love their overtime. They may not love the long hours, but when they get their paycheck, that extra bit can make a huge difference. If you’re one of those people who take every chance to get overtime that they can, or if you’re one of those people who really couldn’t make ends meet without working overtime, what would happen if you were hurt at work and not able to work overtime anymore?

When people are injured at work they have the workers’ compensation system to protect them and their rights. Pennsylvania has one of the best rated workers’ compensation systems in the country. This is beneficial for you if you are a PA resident because you can likely still receive enough money to make ends meet while you are out of work due to your injury.

If you have been injured at work and you are concerned that you may not be able to make ends meet without the overtime you were working, give us a call at 1-800-518-4529 and one of our attorneys can explain to you how we can help. There is never a cost for a consultation with one of our highly-rated Certified Workers’ Compensation Specialist Attorneys.

You can receive a large percentage of what you had been being paid for work and for overtime if you have an experienced workers’ compensation attorney on your side. How can we help you receive the most for your workers’ compensation payments?

When we calculate the amount that we will demand you be paid while on workers’ compensation benefits, we will take your pay stubs from the year prior to your injury, including your overtime. We will break these into four quarters, thirteen weeks in each, and will find what you were paid in each quarter. Then the lowest paid quarter is dropped, and the remaining 39 weeks are averaged and used to calculate your workers’ compensation rate.

This is important for people who are injured at work and believe that they would lose all of their overtime pay if they file for workers’ compensation. If there is a certain time of the year where you do less over time than the other times of the year this can actually help you a lot to keep your income as close to normal as possible.

Seasonal changes in most industries have a large impact on the amount of overtime a person works. If your work involves you being outside, for example, you may work a lot of overtime in the warmer months and less in the winter. If you work in a factory or distribution center, however, this may be opposite as you might be working overtime for the holiday season, through the fall and into the beginning of winter. The only way we can for certain determine what your compensation rate should be is to evaluate your pay stubs form the previous year. These can typically be acquired from your employer once your case starts.

Additional forms of compensation that need to be accounted for are: bonuses, holiday pay, incentive pay, tips, vacation pay, and wages. An experienced workers’ compensation attorney will know to get records of all of these forms of compensation, and will include all of these forms of compensation in your payments. Attorneys for the insurance company may not, and less-experienced workers’ compensation attorneys may overlook some of these.

If you were injured at work and you are worried about losing your extra income from working overtime, give us a call and we can set you up for a free, no obligation consultation with one of our experienced Certified Workers’ Compensation Specialists. Give us a call at 1-800-518-4529 or fill out our contact form to the right. Don’t lose everything because your injured at work.