Opinion ID: 2554922
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Special Expenses

Text: [¶ 5] Hackett contends that the hearing officer erred when excluding the nine cents per mile from average weekly wage as a special expense pursuant to 39-A M.R.S. § 102(4)(F). He asserts that the per diem payments did not correlate with his actual expenses, were not subject to any restrictions on how they could be used, and represented economic gain to him; therefore, they should be considered part of his compensation and included in his average weekly wage. [¶ 6] Average weekly wage [2] is defined generally as the amount that the employee was receiving at the time of the injury for the hours and days constituting a regular full working week in the employment or occupation in which the employee was engaged when injured. 39-A M.R.S. § 102(4)(A) (2010). If any part of the compensation an employee receives for working a regular full working week constitutes reimbursement for special expenses, however, that amount is not included in the calculation of average weekly wage, pursuant to 39-A M.R.S. § 102(4)(F), which provides: When the employer has paid the employee a sum to cover any special expense incurred by the employee by the nature of the employee's employment, the sum paid is not reckoned as part of the employee's wages, earnings or salary. [¶ 7] Hackett asserts that our decision should be controlled by Clukey v. Piscataquis County Sheriff's Department, 1997 ME 124, 696 A.2d 428. In that case, we held that certain military allowances for off-base housing and food were not special expenses and could be included in average weekly wage. Id. ¶ 1, 696 A.2d at 429. Contrary to Hackett's position, Clukey is distinguishable because it involved the application of federal statutes that specifically designated the military allowances as compensation. See id. ¶ 5, 696 A.2d at 430. No similar statute exists that would require us to consider Hackett's per diem payments as wages. [¶ 8] The hearing officer found that the per diem payments that Western Express made to Hackett were for lodging, meals, and telephone calls, and concluded that they were paid to cover special expenses and must be excluded. A representative of Western Express testified that the amount designated as a per diem payment is consistent with the amount recognized by the Internal Revenue Service to approximate the expenses incurred by long-haul truck drivers that may, without documentation of actual expenses, be excluded from the drivers' incomes for purposes of federal income taxation. [3] See Rev. Proc. 2007-63, 2007-42 I.R.B. 809. [¶ 9] The hearing officer's findings of fact are final, 39-A M.R.S. §§ 318, 322(3) (2010), and we defer to the hearing officer's interpretation of the Workers' Compensation Act as within the Board's area of special expertise, St. Mary's Regional Medical Center v. Bath Iron Works, 2009 ME 92, ¶ 7, 977 A.2d 431, 433. Because the hearing officer found that the per diem payments were intended to cover lodging, meals, and telephone calls, expenses that would be incurred by truck drivers due to the nature of their employment, the hearing officer did not err in concluding that the per diem payments were made to cover Hackett's special expenses or by excluding the per diem payments from the calculation of his average weekly wage pursuant to section 102(4)(F). [¶ 10] Hackett contends in the alternative that the per diem payments should be considered fringe benefits and included in average weekly wage to the extent allowed pursuant to 39-A M.R.S. § 102(4)(H). Although the value of fringe benefits may be included in average weekly wage to a limited extent, see 39-A M.R.S. § 102(4)(H), the hearing officer concluded that the payments at issue in this case are not fringe benefits, see Me. W.C.B. Rule, ch. 1, § 5(1)(B)(6) (excluding reimbursements for travel, parking, etc. from consideration as fringe benefits). The hearing officer did not err in determining that the per diem payments were not fringe benefits and thus not includable to any extent in average weekly wage.