Ohio Administrative Code › Title 4125 - Industrial Commission/Worker's Compensation › Chapter 4125-1 - Wage Loss Compensation › Section 4125-1-01 - Wage loss compensation

Current through all regulations passed and filed through July 1, 2024
(A)
			 Definitions:
The following definitions shall apply to the adjudication of
				applications for wage loss compensation:
(1) "Adjudicator" means the administrator of
			 the bureau of workers' compensation, a district hearing officer, a staff
			 hearing officer, or the industrial commission. However, in the case of a wage
			 loss application filed with a self-insuring employer, the self-insuring
			 employer shall make the initial determination as provided in paragraph (H) of
			 this rule.
(2) "Comparably paying
			 work" means suitable employment in which the injured worker's weekly rate of
			 pay is equal to or greater than the average weekly wage of the injured
			 worker.
(3) "Employer of record"
			 means the employer with whom the injured worker was employed at the time of the
			 injury or on the date of disability in an occupational disease claim, or to the
			 entity that is determined by the bureau of workers' compensation, or by
			 industrial commission order, to succeed to the rights and responsibilities of
			 the employer for workers' compensation claim purposes.
(4) "Employment" means work performed or to
			 be performed pursuant to a contract of hire between an employee and an employer
			 as those terms are defined in divisions (A) and (B) of section
			 4123.01
			 of the Revised Code. "Employment" also includes work performed or to be
			 performed as self-employment.
(5)
			 "Former position of employment" means the employment engaged in by the injured
			 worker, including job duties, hours and rate of pay, at the time of the
			 industrial injury or on the date of disability in an occupational disease claim
			 allowed under Chapter 4123. of the Revised Code.
(6) "Injured worker," for purposes of wage
			 loss compensation, means an employee as defined in division (A) of section
			 4121.01
			 and division (A)(1) of section
			 4123.01
			 of the Revised Code, who asserts a right, demand, or claim for benefits
			 pursuant to division (B) of section
			 4123.56
			 of the Revised Code.
(7) "Injured
			 worker's weekly wage loss" means his or her working wage loss or nonworking
			 wage loss during a calendar week or the injured worker's work week.
(8) "Non-working wage loss" means the dollar
			 amount of the diminishment in wages sustained by an injured worker who has not
			 returned to work because he or she has been unable to find suitable employment
			 despite a good faith job search (as described in paragraph (E)(1)(c) of this
			 rule). However, the extent of the diminishment must be the direct result of
			 physical and/or psychiatric restrictions caused by the impairment that is
			 causally related to an industrial injury or occupational disease in a claim
			 allowed under Chapter 4123. of the Revised Code.
(9) "Present earnings" means the injured
			 worker's actual weekly earnings which are generated by gainful employment
			 except as provided in paragraph (A)(9)(b) of this rule. It is a rebuttable
			 presumption that earnings from paid leave provided by the employer will be
			 included in present earnings.
(a) Earnings
			 generated from commission sales, bonuses, gratuities, and all other forms of
			 compensation for personal services customarily received by an injured worker in
			 the course of his or her employment and accounted for by the injured worker to
			 his or her employer will be included in present earnings for the purposes of
			 computing the wage loss award. In instances where sales commission, bonuses,
			 gratuities, or other compensation are not paid on a weekly or biweekly basis,
			 their receipt will be apportioned over the number of weeks it is determined
			 were required to initiate and consummate the sale or earn the bonus, gratuity,
			 or other compensation.
(b) In the
			 case of an injured worker engaged in self-employment, "present earnings" means
			 gross income minus business-related expenses. For purposes of calculating
			 present earnings, there shall be a rebuttable presumption that an injured
			 worker engaged in self-employment has a gross income of at least fifty percent
			 of the statewide average weekly wage or such other compensation that the bureau
			 of workers' compensation shall impute to self-employed persons for purposes of
			 determining premium payments. Income derived from self-employment shall be
			 reported on at least a quarterly basis.
(10) "Restriction" means any physical and/or
			 psychiatric limitation directly resulting from the allowed conditions in the
			 claim.
(11) "Statewide average
			 weekly wage" has the same meaning as set forth in division (C) of section
			 4123.62
			 of the Revised Code.
(12) "Suitable
			 employment" means work which is within the injured worker's restrictions, and
			 which may be performed by the injured worker subject to all physical,
			 psychiatric, mental, and vocational limitations to which the injured worker was
			 subject on the date of the injury, or on the date of disability in occupational
			 disease claims.
(13) "Retirement" means  an injured worker's decision to
			 terminate employment such that the injured worker is completely removed
			 from the active work force based on factors that are not causally related to
			 the allowed conditions in the claim.
(14) "Wages" means the amount upon which the
			 injured worker's average weekly wage is calculated pursuant to section
			 4123.61
			 of the Revised Code.
(15) "Working
			 wage loss" means the dollar amount of the diminishment in wages sustained by an
			 injured worker who has returned to employment which is not his or her former
			 position of employment. However, the extent of the diminishment must be the
			 direct result of physical and/or psychiatric restriction(s) caused by the
			 impairment that is causally related to an industrial injury or occupational
			 disease in a claim allowed under Chapter 4123. of the Revised Code.