COORDINATING INDEMNITY BENEFITS WITHCONTINUED SALARY UNDER THE EDUCATION CODE
By
Susan L. England
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| The law appears simple enough but the difficulty comes with its application. Perhaps the easiest way to understand particular problems would be to undertake some examples. In each of the examples it is assumed that the injured worker is either classified or certificated and therefore entitled to the salary continuation benefits provided by the Education Code. |
| Hypothetical 1: |
| Joe earns $36,000.00 for the ten months of active employment with the school district. He elects to take this pay over a twelve month period. Joe also works six weeks over the summer for which he earns an additional $4,500.00. Joe is injured on December 1, 2006. The district pays Joe all or part of his salary in accordance with the provisions of the Education Code. The district is reimbursed at the temporary disability rate of $519.23 based on an average weekly wage of $778.85 ($36,000.00 plus $4,500.00 divided by 52 weeks). Joe returns to work on May 1, 2007. Upon his return to work Joe’s temporary disability ends. |
| Hypothetical 2 : |
Instead of returning to work on May 1, 2007, Joe continues to be totally and temporarily disabled through the summer months, finally returning to work on August 20, 2007. Since the school year ended on June 22, 2007, what benefits should be provided Joe during the summer months?
At the point Joe exhausts his salary continuation benefits, Joe will continue to draw full salary exhausting his other paid benefits (sick leave, vacation, etc.) with the district. The district will continue to be paid the temporary total disability rate. When Joe runs out of all paid benefits the temporary disability will be paid directly to Joe for the statutory period of time. [For dates of injury on or after April 19, 2004, temporary disability is limited to 104 compensable weeks from the date of commencement of temporary disability payments. Labor Code Section 4656 (c) (1)] |
| Hypothetical 3 : |
Agnes’ only job is as a part time teaching assistant, earning $100.00 a week. Agnes sustains an injury on April 1, 2007, which causes her to be temporarily and totally disabled. The district pays Agnes her full salary of $100.00 a week. However, since there is a minimum rate at which temporary total disability must be paid, the district ought to be paid $100.00 a week from its workers’ compensation carrier or administrator, and Agnes ought to receive the sum of $32.25 as additional temporary disability indemnity. In cases where the injured worker’s salary results in payments less than the minimum rate at which temporary disability is payable, the injured worker is entitled to receive the minimum rate, even though there has been no wage loss. [Hayes v. Santa BarbaraSchool District and R.L. Kautz & Company, (1990) 55 Cal. Comp. Cases 352]
In the Hayes case, the WCAB had originally found that the school district had continued to pay Ms. Hayes her regular salary and since there was no wage loss to Ms. Hayes, she was not entitled to any temporary disability benefits. The decision was appealed and the matter remanded to the WCAB with instructions from the Court of Appeal to award temporary disability benefits in accordance with the minimum rate set out in the Labor Code. The decision of the appellate court was not published and is therefore not citable authority. It should be noted that the district was entitled to credit for the salary payments it had made and hence the net recovery to the injured worker in Hayes was the difference between her actual salary and the minimum rate of temporary disability. A double recovery was not allowed. |
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