Is Overtime Included in Workers Compensation Claims?

If you have suffered injuries that prevent you from working and you are filing a claim for workers compensation, the amount of money you can claim depends on how much you used to earn when working for your employer. All is clear so far, right? Well, the truth is that many working arrangements are different from what the initial work contract states.

Such is the case for those employees who are used to working overtime and use those extra hours to reach the wage that allows them to survive. However, when you are working overtime hours and you exceed what is written in the contract, it becomes hard to demonstrate that it is indeed a regular occurrence. If your workers compensation claim does not take overtime hours into consideration, you would receive an insufficient amount of money that wouldn’t reflect the real time you used to work for your employer. That's when a St. Louis work injury attorney can come to help.

Is Overtime Work Included in Your Workers Claim Calculations?

The answer is yes, under some circumstances. The court may agree that you should be compensated according to the amount of work that you did on average. If you were regularly working overtime hours, then they will likely be calculated and added to your claim.

The DOL (Department of Labor) requires employers to accurately track the overtime hours performed by their employees. If these are not recorded properly, then the companies can expect to get fined by the DOL. Employers who try to fool the system by misclassifying their employees or failing to pay the overtime hours can be fined with hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

How Is Overtime Calculated in Workers Compensation Claims?

The employer may calculate the workers compensation rate by the total amount of money paid to you (weekly or monthly) or by the number of hours you used to work weekly or monthly. Depending on that, your workers compensation will bring you more or less money.

If your compensation is calculated from the average amount of money you received, it will be proportionate to the payment. Since your employer pays you a bigger fee for overtime hours than for regular ones, the compensation amount will be higher for those hours. However, if your compensation rate is calculated by the number of worked hours, then they will all have the same compensation amount.

Maybe the differences would not be substantial, but you need to know how your employer calculates your compensation claim so that you can set your expectations accordingly.

If you are in the situation of claiming workers compensation and the nature of your work or individual situation meant that you relied on overtime payment, tips or commissions, it is best to speak with an experienced St. Louis workers compensation attorney. They will know best how to demonstrate and calculate the overtime compensation amount. Call us 24/7 at (314) 361-4300 for a FREE case evaluation.