Ashby v. Rust Engineering Co.

HORNBY, Justice.

The primary issue in these two cases, which were consolidated for oral argument, is whether the Maine Workers’ Compensation Act includes the value of fringe benefits in “average weekly wages, earnings or' salary” for purposes of determining the amount of workers’ compensation benefits an injured employee can receive. Two separate panels of the Appellate Division reached opposing results. We conclude that in cases where an employer has agreed to pay a specific dollar amount per unit of time worked by each employee, such payments are included within the definition of “average…