Decision  Gabriele Abebe v. Lowe's Home Centers

Date:	03/13/2007
Organization:	Department of Industrial Accidents
Docket Number:	DIA Board No. 009163-03
Location:	Boston

• Employee: Gabriele Abebe
• Employer: Lowe's Home Centers
• Self Insurer: Lowe's Home Centers

McCARTHY, J. The self-insurer’s appeal calls upon us to construe the concurrent wage provisions of § 1(1).¹ The administrative judge, whose decision we review, awarded the employee weekly incapacity benefits based on his average weekly wages from both his job with Lowe’s, at which he was injured, and his own contracting company. The self-insurer argues the judge erred by including the employee’s wages from the contracting company in the computation of his pre-injury average weekly wage because that employer was not insured for workers’ compensation on the date of the employee’s industrial accident at Lowe’s. We agree, given the facts of this case. We therefore reverse the decision in part, and recommit the case for the reasons that follow.

¹   General Laws c. 152, § 1(1) , provides, in pertinent part:

In case the injured employee is employed in the concurrent service of more than one insured employer or self-insurer, his total earnings from the several insured employers and self-insurers shall be considered in determining his average weekly wages.