- Earnings basis (average weekly earnings)
- Earnings basis (short or casual employment)
- Earnings basis (short-term)
The worker was a general labourer who was injured on his fourth day of employment. The Board based short-term benefits on wages of $14 with a 35-hour week. The worker appealed, claiming that benefits should be based on a 40-hour or 44-hour week.
Board policy provides for calculation of short-term benefits based on employment earnings over the period worked in the case of an injury sustained within the first four weeks on the job.In this case, the worker worked for six hours on his first day, eight hours on the second day and eight hours on the third day. He was injured after working for three hours on the fourth day. The employer only paid the worker for three hours on the fourth day but the Vice-Chair noted s. 24(1) of the WSIA, which requires the employer to pay wages on the day of the injury as if the accident had not occurred. The Vice-Chair found that the wages for the fourth day should be commensurate with an eight-hour day.Thus, the worker's hours should be considered to be 30 hours over four days, being 7.5 hours per day, which would be 37.5 hours over a five-day work week. The worker was entitled to benefits based on average earnings of $14 per hour for 37.5 hours per week. The appeal was allowed in part.