Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 2302 – Wages; definition and computation; valuation of board and lodging
(a) “Average weekly wage” means the weekly wage earned by the employee at the time of the employee’s injury at the job in which the employee was injured, including overtime pay, gratuities and regularly paid bonuses (other than an employer‘s gratuity or holiday bonuses) but excluding all fringe or other in-kind employment benefits. The term “average weekly wage” shall include the reasonable value of board, rent, housing or lodging received from the employer, which shall be fixed and determined from the facts in each particular case.
Terms Used In Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 2302
- Board: means the Industrial Accident Board. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 2301
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Employee: means every person in service of any corporation (private, public, municipal or quasi-public), association, firm or person, excepting those employees excluded by this subchapter, under any contract of hire, express or implied, oral or written, or performing services for a valuable consideration, excluding spouse and minor children of a farm employer unless the spouse or minor child is a bona fide employee of a farm employer and is named in an endorsement to the farm employer's contract of insurance, and excluding any person whose employment is casual and not in the regular course of the trade, business, profession or occupation of his or her employer, and not including persons to whom articles or materials are furnished or repaired, or adopted for sale in the worker's own home, or on the premises not under the control or management of the employer. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 2301
- Employer: includes all those who employ others unless they are excluded from the application of this chapter by any provision of this subchapter, and if the employer is insured, the term shall include the insurer as far as practicable; employer shall also include the governing body for which employable relief recipients are assigned work under §§ 901-905 of Title 31. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 2301
(b) The average weekly wage shall be determined by computing the total wages paid to the employee during the 26 weeks immediately preceding the date of injury and dividing by 26, provided that:
(1) If the employee worked less than 26 weeks, but at least 13 weeks, in the employment in which the employee was injured, the average weekly wage shall be based upon the total wage earned by the employee in the employment in which the employee was injured, divided by the total number of weeks actually worked in that employment;
(2) If an employee sustains a compensable injury before completing that employee’s first 13 weeks, the average weekly wage shall be calculated as follows:
a. If the contract was based on hours worked, by determining the number of hours for each week contracted for by the employee multiplied by the employee’s hourly rate;
b. If the contract was based on a weekly wage, by determining the weekly salary contracted for by the employee; or
c. If the contract was based on a monthly salary, by multiplying the monthly salary by 12 and dividing that figure by 52; and
d. If the hourly rate of earnings of the employee cannot be ascertained, or if the pay has not been designated for the work required, the average weekly wage, for the purpose of calculating compensation, shall be taken to be the average weekly wage for similar services performed by other employees in like employment for the past 26 weeks.
(3) In any event, the weekly compensation allowed shall not exceed the maximum or be less than the minimum provided by law.
Code 1915, § ?3193uu; 29 Del. Laws, c. 233; 30 Del. Laws, c. 203, § ?10; Code 1935, § ?6117; 45 Del. Laws, c. 297, § ?6; 19 Del. C. 1953, § ?2302; 50 Del. Laws, c. 339, §§ ?2, 3; 52 Del. Laws, c. 49, § ?3; 70 Del. Laws, c. 96, § ?1; 70 Del. Laws, c. 172, § ?4; 70 Del. Laws, c. 186, § ?1; 76 Del. Laws, c. 1, § ?5;