EARNINGS BASIS
(For Workers Injured On or After January 1, 1998)
What Is an Earnings Basis?
The amount of benefits paid to you by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) depends upon the amount of money you were earning at the time of your injury. The amount that the WSIB determines you were earning at the time of your injury is called your earnings basis. The WSIB calculates the earnings of workers injured on or after January 1, 1998, in two different ways, known as the short-term earnings basis and the long-term earnings basis.
What Is a Short-Term Earnings Basis?
The short-term earnings basis is the amount that you were being paid at the time of your injury. It is used to calculate your benefit rate for the first twelve weeks that you are receiving benefits.
What Is a Long-Term Earnings Basis?
The long-term earnings basis is used to calculate your benefits from the 13th week of your claim onward. If you were working at a regular, permanent job at the time of your injury, your short-term earnings basis will be the same as your long-term earnings basis unless either you or your employer requests a recalculation. If you were working at a seasonal or temporary job when you were injured, the long-term earnings basis will be the average of your weekly earnings over the two years before your injury.
How Are Your Benefits Calculated from the Earnings Basis?
Once your earnings basis has been calculated, the WSIB subtracts the amount you would pay in income taxes, in Canada Pension Plan contributions and in Employment Insurance premiums to arrive at your Net Average Earnings at the time of your accident. Your workplace insurance benefits (known as loss of earnings benefits) are 85% of the difference between your net average earnings and the amount which you earn, or which the WSIB believes you could earn, after the accident.
What if You Have Been Working Overtime?
The short-term earnings basis will include the lowest amount of overtime that you worked in each of the four weeks before your accident. Any overtime that you worked in the two years before your injury is included in the calculation of your weekly long-term earnings basis.
What if You Were Receiving Employment Insurance Benefits?
Employment Insurance benefits received because of a lay-off or shortage of work are included in the long-term, but not the short-term earnings basis.
In solidarity;
Guy Bourgouin
Brother Guy Bourgouin is the local's representative for WSIB cases. Please
call him for information or help with your case.
