New York: Work Experience Program Benefits Are “Wages” for Purposes of Computing Average Weekly Wage

Payments made to participants in New York’s work experience program (WEP) are “wages” for purposes of the state’s workers’ compensation law [see N.Y. Workers’ Comp. Law § 2(9)], and should be utilized in computing the level of benefits owed to an injured worker, held a state appellate court. Accordingly, where a WEP participant sustained a 7.5 percent loss of use injury while working for a county project, it was appropriate to base her level of benefits on the “income” she received from the WEP.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is co-author of Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law (LexisNexis).

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance.

See Matter of Covert v Niagara County, 2019 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 3888 (3d Dept., May 16, 2019)

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 93.01

Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law

For a more detailed discussion of the case, see