If you have been injured at work, one of the first things you will want to know is how much you will receive in workers’ compensation benefits. The answer depends largely on a single number: your average weekly wage, or AWW. Your AWW determines the amount of your temporary total disability (TTD) benefits, your permanent partial disability (PPD) settlement value, and many other benefit calculations under the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act (820 ILCS 305/1 et seq.). Getting this number right can mean thousands of dollars over the life of your claim.
Unfortunately, calculating AWW is not always as simple as looking at your most recent paycheck. Section 10 of the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act provides four different methods for determining your average weekly wage, and the method that applies to your situation depends on factors like how long you worked for your employer, whether you missed time from work before your injury, and whether your employment was seasonal or part-time. Understanding these methods is important because insurance companies do not always use the calculation that is most favorable to the injured worker.
The Default Method: Total Earnings Divided by 52 Weeks
The starting point for any AWW calculation is what is commonly referred to as the “default method.” Under this approach, your AWW is calculated by taking your total earnings during the 52 weeks immediately preceding your injury and dividing that figure by 52. This is the method laid out in Section 10 of the Act and confirmed by the Illinois Supreme Court in Sylvester v. Industrial Commission, 197 Ill. 2d 225 (2001), which remains the foundation of wage analysis in Illinois workers’ compensation cases.
For most workers who have been employed full-time with the same employer for at least a year before their injury, this method is straightforward. Your employer or its insurance company should be able to pull your earnings records for the prior 52 weeks, add them up, and divide by 52. The resulting figure is your AWW, and your TTD benefit rate is two-thirds of that amount (subject to statutory minimums and maximums set each year by the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission).
For example, if a warehouse worker earned $52,000 in the 52 weeks before a back injury, the AWW would be $1,000 per week, and the TTD rate would be approximately $666.67 per week. This is the method that applies in the majority of cases.
When You Missed Time from Work: The Lost Time Adjustment
Not every worker has a clean, uninterrupted 52-week earnings history. If you lost five or more calendar days from work during the year before your injury — whether or not those days fell in the same week — the second method under Section 10 may apply. Under this method, your earnings during the 52-week period are divided by the number of weeks remaining after the lost time has been deducted, rather than by the full 52 weeks.
This adjustment matters because dividing by a smaller number of weeks results in a higher AWW, which more accurately reflects what you were actually earning when you were working. Without this adjustment, an injured worker who missed several weeks due to a prior illness, a layoff, or a family emergency would have an artificially low AWW that does not reflect their true earning capacity.
This was the method at issue in the Sylvester case, where the Illinois Supreme Court addressed how lost time should be measured. One key question that can arise is whether “weeks” under this method are measured in whole calendar weeks or whether individual lost days should be converted into fractional weeks. The resolution of this question can significantly affect the final AWW figure, so it is important to have an attorney who understands the nuances of the calculation.
New Employees: When You Started the Job Within the Past Year
If you began working for your employer within the 52 weeks before your injury, obviously you will not have a full year of earnings to use in the calculation. In this situation, the third method under Section 10 applies. Your total earnings during the period of employment are divided by the number of weeks and parts of weeks during which you actually earned wages.
For instance, if you started a new job and worked a total of 147 days before being injured, those 147 days translate to approximately 29.4 weeks. Your AWW would be your total straight-time wages divided by 29.4. This method ensures that new employees are not penalized by having their earnings spread across a full 52-week period when they were only employed for a portion of that time.
An important point about this method is that the calculation turns on the employee’s actual earnings and the number of weeks and parts of weeks during which the employee actually earned wages. Ricketts v. Industrial Commission, 251 Ill. App. 3d 809 (1993), and Cook v. Industrial Commission, 231 Ill. App. 3d 729 (1992), upheld Commission calculations on the particular records presented in those cases, but they do not establish a categorical rule that all part-time or noncontinuous employment must always be measured by full calendar weeks or that hours and days can never be converted into fractional weeks. The Illinois Supreme Court later explained in Sylvester v. Industrial Commission, 197 Ill. 2d 225 (2001), that section 10 must be applied according to the specific method and proof at issue in the case.
Another significant case involving this method is ABF Freight System v. Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission, 2015 IL App (1st) 141306WC, which addressed whether the AWW should be based on the employee’s wages from the position held at the time of injury rather than an earlier, lower-paid role within the same employment.
Seasonal and Short-Duration Workers: The Comparable Employee Method
The fourth method under Section 10 applies when your employment was of such short duration or such a casual nature that the first three methods would be impractical. In these cases, the AWW is based on what a similar worker in the same type of job, working the same hours for the same employer, would have earned over the 52-week period preceding the injury.
This method exists to ensure that seasonal workers, temporary employees, and others with irregular employment patterns are not left with an unreasonably low AWW that fails to reflect the earning potential of their position. The court in Smith v. Industrial Commission, 170 Ill. App. 3d 626 (1988), affirmed the Commission’s use of this method on the record presented, where it served to calculate a wage that fairly reflected the claimant’s earning capacity despite seasonal or intermittent work patterns. While this method is used less frequently than the others, it can be critically important for workers in industries like construction, landscaping, or event staffing where employment may be project-based or weather-dependent.
Why Getting Your AWW Right Matters
Your average weekly wage is not just a number on a form. It is the foundation of every benefit you receive under the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act. Your TTD rate, your PPD value, your maintenance benefits during vocational rehabilitation, and even your wage differential benefits under Section 8(d)(1) are all calculated from this figure. A difference of even $50 per week in your AWW can translate to thousands of dollars over the course of a claim.
Insurance companies have an incentive to calculate your AWW as low as possible, because a lower wage means lower benefits and a lower settlement value. That is why it is important to review your pay stubs, tax records, and employment history carefully and make sure the correct method is being applied. If you received overtime pay, bonuses, or other forms of compensation, those earnings may also factor into the calculation depending on the circumstances.
What You Should Do to Protect Your Rights
If you have been injured at work, there are several steps you can take to make sure your AWW is calculated correctly. First, gather your pay stubs or earnings statements for the 52 weeks before your injury. If you do not have them, your employer is required to provide wage records. Second, note whether you missed any significant time from work during that period, and whether you started the job within the past year. These facts will determine which of the four methods applies to your case. Third, and most importantly, do not simply accept the insurance company’s calculation without having it reviewed by an experienced workers’ compensation attorney.
If you have been injured at work and have questions about how your average weekly wage is being calculated, the attorneys at The Law Offices of Millon & Peskin, Ltd. are here to help. We represent injured workers throughout the Chicagoland area, including DuPage, Cook, Will, Kane, and Lake counties, and we understand how to maximize your benefits by ensuring your AWW is calculated correctly. Contact our Wheaton workers’ compensation office today for a free consultation to discuss your case. Call us at 630-449-3884.