McPeak v. Industrial Commission

OPINION

FIDEL, Judge.

We review an Industrial Commission award setting the average monthly wage of the petitioner employee, Warren McPeak (claimant), at the statutory maximum of $1,325.00. The claimant asserts that A.R.S. § 23-1041, which dictates the maximum average monthly wage, violates Art. 18, § 8 of the Arizona Constitution unless interpreted to cap “real," not “nominal” wages, a distinction we define below. We disagree and affirm the award.

On October 18, 1984, the claimant fractured an ankle while working as an iron-worker for the respondent employer, M.M. Sundt Construction Company. His…