Davis v. Industrial Com'n of Arizona

OPINION

JACOBSON, Presiding Judge.

In this special action review of an Industrial Commission award, the dispositive issue is whether a routine hourly wage increase within a month before an industrial injury justifies using an expanded wage base to compute the average monthly wage. The administrative law judge used an expanded wage base for this reason. Because we conclude this was error, we set aside the award.

The relevant procedural history is as follows. On February 11,1981, the respondent carrier issued a notice of claim status establishing a $637.22 average monthly wage for the petitioner.…