Commonwealth Court Holds That Stacking of Wages Not Permitted for Volunteer Firefighters
In Ballerino v. WCAB (Darby Borough), ___ A.2d ___ (Pa. Cmwlth., No. 1113 C.D. 2007, filed on December 13, 2007), the Commonwealth Court held that an injured volunteer firefighter's average weekly wage should not include the statewide average weekly wagecombined with his actual pre-injury wage. The Court concluded that the Act does not permit this kind of stacking.
The Claimant in this case sustained a disabiling injury in the course of his volunteer service as a firefighter. The Employer (Darby Borough) issued a Notice of Compensation Payable, allowing the injured firefighter to collect $477.85 per week, by using the statutory formula for firefighters injured in the line of duty. The injured firefighter filed a claim petition, seeking to increase his workers' compensation, stating that his earnings from his regular full-time employment of $580 per week should have been added to the presumed statutory average weekly wage, and thus allowing him to collect $716 per week. The workers' compensation judge found against the Claimant, stating that the "stacking" of wages was not permitted by the Pennsylvania Workers' Compensation Act. The WCAB affirmed this decision.
