Written by: Brennan Smith
Average Weekly Wage for Seasonal Workers
When calculating the Average Weekly Wage (AWW) for a full-time employee working forty hours per week, it’s easy to fall back on the familiar formula: average the hours worked in the four full weeks before the accident, multiply by the hourly rate, and you’re set.
But what happens when the employee is seasonal?
Here in Louisiana, especially in agriculture and the seafood industry, seasonal work is common. Under La. R.S. 23:1021, seasonal employment is defined as “any employment customarily operating only during regularly recurring periods of less than 44 weeks per year.”
For these workers, AWW is calculated differently. Instead of using recent weekly averages, the employee’s total annual earnings are divided by 52 weeks to determine their AWW.
As with part-time status, employers must be able to show that the worker knowingly accepted seasonal employment. The simplest solution is a Seasonal Employment Acknowledgment Form, a straightforward document that clearly informs the employee of their seasonal status.
As a best practice suggestion, I like to advise employers to have the seasonal employee sign the Seasonal Employment Acknowledgement Form upon being hired. Doing so provides strong protection against later claims of full-time status and attempts to invoke the 40-hour presumption.
If you don’t already have a Seasonal Employment Acknowledgment Form in place, you can find one on our website. If you have any questions about seasonal employees or AWW calculations, feel free to reach out.