2019 Nevada Revised Statutes
Chapter 616C - Industrial Insurance: Benefits for Injuries or Death
NRS 616C.420 - Method of determining average monthly wage.
1. The Administrator shall provide by regulation for a method of determining average monthly wage.
2. The method established pursuant to subsection 1 must provide that:
(a) Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, a history of wages earned for a period of 12 weeks must be used to calculate an average monthly wage.
(b) If a 12-week period of wages earned is not representative of the average monthly wage of the injured employee, wages earned over a period of 1 year or the full period of employment, if it is less than 1 year, may be used. Wages earned over 1 year or the full period of employment, if it is less than 1 year, must be used if the average monthly wage would be increased.
(c) If an injured employee is a member of a labor organization and is regularly employed by referrals from the office of that organization, wages earned from all employers for a period of 1 year may be used. A period of 1 year using all the wages earned by the injured employee from all his or her employers must be used if the average monthly wage would be increased.
(d) If information concerning payroll is not available for a period of 12 weeks, wages earned may be averaged for the available period, but not for a period of less than 4 weeks.
(e) If information concerning payroll is unavailable for a period of at least 4 weeks, average wages earned must be projected using the rate of pay on the date of the injury or illness and the projected working schedule of the injured employee.
(f) If wages earned are based on piecework and a history of wages earned is unavailable for a period of at least 4 weeks, the wages earned must be determined as being equal to the average wages earned by other employees doing the same work.
(g) If these methods of determining a period of wages earned cannot be applied reasonably and fairly, an average monthly wage must be calculated by the insurer at 100 percent of:
(1) The sum which reasonably represents the average monthly wage of the injured employee, as defined in regulations adopted pursuant to this section, at the time the injury or illness occurs; or
(2) The amount determined using the hourly wage on the day the injury or illness occurs and the projected working schedule of the injured employee.
(h) The period used to calculate the average monthly wage must consist of consecutive days, ending on the date on which the injury or illness occurs, or the last day of the payroll period preceding the injury or illness if this period is representative of the average monthly wage.
As used in this subsection, “wages earned” means wages earned from the employment in which the injury or illness occurs and in any concurrent employment.
3. In determining average monthly wage pursuant to subsection 1, the method must include concurrent wages of the injured employee only if the concurrent wages are earned from one or more employers who are insured for workers’ compensation or government disability benefits by:
(a) A private carrier;
(b) A plan of self-insurance;
(c) A workers’ compensation insurance system operating under the laws of any other state or territory of the United States; or
(d) A workers’ compensation or disability benefit plan provided for and administered by the Federal Government or any agency thereof.
4. Except as otherwise provided by subsection 3, concurrent wages include, without limitation, wages earned from:
(a) Active or reserve duty with or in:
(1) The Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps or Coast Guard of the United States;
(2) The Merchant Marine; or
(3) The National Guard; or
(b) Employment by:
(1) The Federal Government or any branch or agency thereof;
(2) A state, territorial, county, municipal or local government of any state or territory of the United States; or
(3) A private employer, whether that employment is full-time, part-time, temporary, periodic, seasonal or otherwise limited in term, or pursuant to contract.
5. As used in this section, “concurrent wages” means the sum of wages earned or deemed to have been earned at each place of employment, including, without limitation, the sum of any and all money earned for work of any kind or nature performed by an employee for two or more employers during the one-year period immediately preceding the date of injury or the onset of occupational disease, whether measured by an hourly rate, salary, piecework, commissions, gratuities, bonuses, per diem, value of meals, value of housing or any other employment benefit that can be fairly calculated to a monetary value expressed in an average monthly amount.
(Added to NRS by 1981, 1196; A 1981, 1829; 1983, 1296; 2019, 1902, 3438)
