Tempe Work Injury

Posted in Uncategorized on April 28, 2018

While it doesn’t seem fair that the location where you were hurt would make a large difference in the amount of money you receive when hurt on the job, it does. Tempe, Arizona, is a beautiful city that adjoins the much larger, Phoenix. Tempe used to be called Hayden’s Ferry before Arizona even became a state. It is east of Phoenix and has lots of wonderful things to do. If you are a student, Arizona State University’s main campus is located there as well as many large employers like Wells Fargo, and U.S. Airways. There are tons of festivals and outdoor activities for adults and kids alike. There is a beautiful lake for boating and fishing. With a population of over 180,000 people, it is not a small city and yet, clearly not the size of the capital, Phoenix. All and all, it is a very nice place to raise a family without being too far from the city.

With so many employers and so many employees, the Arizona Worker’s Compensation law can become very important. First off is the average of wages. When someone gets hurt on the job, the amount of money they receive while they are off work depends upon how much they were earning when they got hurt. They are entitled to 66% of their “average monthly wage.” Normally, we look at how much that worker was paid for the 30 days before his injury to determine his average monthly wage. It’s not what a laborer earns in the entire Phoenix/Tempe area, its what that job paid that particular worker. So, if you earned $10 an hour at your job in Tempe, and that same job pays $12 an hour in Phoenix, Arizona comp. law says your average monthly wage is set using the $10 per hour.

However, if there are jobs in Phoenix that are within driving range, the insurance company may take the position that you could return to work, even with a permanent injury in Phoenix. This is commonly done in workman’s comp. That might mean you do not have any lost wages. If no lost wages, there is no compensation. This is true even if you have permanent work restrictions or are left in pain. The moral of the story is that city boundaries do not make a difference when one has been returned to work after an industrial injury. However, regardless of where you live in Arizona, if you are able to return to any sort of work at all, it is always better for you financially. If you don’t work, you only get a percentage of your lost wages. If you are able to work, all that money goes in your pocket. However, this is not meant to be medical advice. Listen to your own body and listen to your doctor. Unfortunately, Arizona work comp. law is not meant to put people back to where they would have been had they not been hurt, it is meant to keep people off of welfare, and it barely does that.