Reifsnyder v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board (Dana Corporation), 584 Pa. 341

Summary

The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania held that the average weekly wage of long-term employees subject to periodic economic layoffs must be calculated under Section 309(d) of the Pennsylvania Workers' Compensation Act. The court concluded that Section 309(d.2), which provides a prospective hourly-wage calculation, is intended primarily for recently hired employees lacking sufficient employment history. Accordingly, the court reversed the Commonwealth Court and held that layoff periods must be included in the Section 309(d) calculation.

Holdings

1. Section 309(d), rather than Section 309(d.2), controls the calculation of average weekly wages for long-term employees who maintain an ongoing employment relationship but experience periodic economic layoffs during the fifty-two-week look-back period. The periods during which the claimants received no wages because of layoffs must be included in the Section 309(d) computation.
2. An employee's failure to work during an economic layoff does not necessarily terminate the employee's employment relationship for purposes of Section 309(d).
3. Unemployment compensation benefits received during economic layoffs are not required to be included in the average-weekly-wage calculation under Section 309(d).

Questions Presented

1. Whether the average weekly wage of long-term employees subject to periodic economic layoffs should be calculated under Section 309(d) of the Pennsylvania Workers' Compensation Act by averaging wages from the highest three of the preceding four thirteen-week periods.
2. Whether Section 309(d.2), which uses an hourly wage multiplied by expected weekly hours, applies when long-term employees did not actually work a complete thirteen-week period because of periodic layoffs.
3. Whether unemployment compensation received during economic layoffs must be included in the average weekly wage calculation.

Disposition

reversed