Back to the Future: A Retroactive Wage Adjustment in Delaware

Mike Galbraith is the man of the hour.  I always love being blessed by those who highlight significant developments in this recent case law for me.  Or obscure or unique issues.

Here is an issue for you: Average weekly wage is fleshed out at the time an Agreement as to Compensation is tendered.  A year or so later, the claimant, a firefighter for the City of Wilmington, is the beneficiary of a retroactive pay increase as a result of union contract negotiations.  Is he now entitled to an amended Agreement reflecting the higher average weekly wage?

Answer: Yes! Attached is a copy of Joseph Malloy v. City of Wilmington, IAB #1334973 (6/1/11) (ORDER).   This is another one of those Chris Baum "cherishables", offering a detailed overview of the wage statute and also a nod to Larson's Workers Compensation Law, Section 93.01 which allows that "a claimant's actual wage will ordinarily be adjusted for retroactive wage increases."   That is the rule in all jurisdictions reported with no examples of a contrary result.

Back to Mike Galbraith.  He is a man who loves (and well knows) his case law.  And that makes him a man after my own heart...... :>)

Irreverently yours,
Cassandra Roberts

   Visit Delaware Detour & Frolic, a law blog by Cassandra Roberts

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