The Number Nobody Explains Well

When a workers’ compensation check finally arrives, most people stare at it and ask the same question: how did they land on this number? I get some version of that question every week. The math behind it is not secret, but nobody sits down and walks a hurt worker through it before the first check shows up.

Here is how it actually works, and where I see it go wrong.

It Starts With the Average Weekly Wage

Everything in a Maryland workers’ compensation case runs off one figure: the average weekly wage, or AWW. This is not your salary. It is not your last paycheck. It is a calculated average, usually based on your earnings over a set period before the injury, often the 14 weeks right before it happened.

If your hours or pay were steady, this is simple. If you worked overtime some weeks and not others, picked up a second job, or had a schedule that changed a lot, the number gets harder to pin down. Bonuses, tips, and shift differentials sometimes count. Whether they do depends on how consistently you earned them and how the employer reported them.

I have seen AWW calculations come back low simply because the person doing the math used the wrong weeks, or left out income that should have been included. That single number drives every benefit check that follows, so it is worth checking closely before you accept it.

Then the Benefit Type Sets the Percentage

Once the AWW is set, the type of benefit determines what percentage of it you actually receive.

Temporary Total Disability

If you cannot work at all while you heal, you typically get two-thirds of your average weekly wage, up to a maximum set by state guidelines each year. This is meant to replace lost income, not match it dollar for dollar.

Temporary Partial Disability

If you can work but only in a reduced capacity, and you are earning less than before, the benefit usually covers a portion of the gap between what you used to make and what you make now.

Permanent Partial or Permanent Total Disability

Once you reach maximum medical improvement and still have lasting impairment, the calculation shifts again. It factors in the body part affected, the degree of impairment, and a schedule of benefit weeks tied to that specific injury. Two people with similar jobs and similar pay can end up with very different permanent benefit amounts because the injury itself, not the paycheck, drives that part of the math.

Where the Calculation Quietly Goes Wrong

A few patterns show up again and again in the workers’ comp cases I handle.

Second jobs get left out. If you worked two jobs and the injury affects your ability to do both, income from the second job may belong in the AWW calculation, but it often gets missed because the employer only knows about the wages it paid you.

Overtime gets averaged out of existence. If overtime was a regular part of your schedule, not just an occasional extra shift, it should factor into the average. I see it dropped more often than it should be.

Wage statements come in wrong or incomplete. The AWW is only as good as the payroll records behind it. Errors in those records turn into errors in your check, and they do not fix themselves.

What I Tell Clients to Do With This

Ask for the wage statement the insurer used to calculate your AWW. You are entitled to see the math, not just the result.

Compare it against your own pay stubs for the same period. If something looks off, a low number relative to what you actually earned, missing overtime, a second job left out, that is worth raising before benefits are finalized rather than after months of underpayment.

Keep your own record of hours and pay leading up to the injury. Memory fades, but a simple log of what you earned and when makes it much easier to spot a calculation that does not match reality.

The wage benefit system in Maryland workers’ compensation is built on a formula, not a guess. Formulas are only as reliable as the numbers fed into them. Knowing where those numbers come from is the difference between accepting a check and knowing it is right.