“When an employee who holds two separate jobs is injured in one of them, his compensation is based only upon his average weekly wages earned in the employment producing the injury.”

Joyner v. A. J. Carey Oil Co., 266 N.C. 519, 521, 146 S.E.2d 447, 449 (1966), citing Barnhardt v. Yellow Cab Co., 266 N.C. 419, 146 S.E.2d 479 (1966).

The NC Supreme Court reasoned that, while a Plaintiff would benefit if the wages from both of his jobs were combined, it would be unfair to an employer and its carrier to be required to pay a higher weekly compensation wage than they ever paid Plaintiff in wages. Combining wages from two separate jobs would be unfair to the employer.

McAninch v. Buncombe Cty. Sch., 347 N.C. 126, 133, 489 S.E.2d 375, 379 (1997).

If you have questions regarding this Practice Pointer and/or are interested in a 1-hour NC DOI approved CE on this subject for your group, please contact your Hedrick Gardner attorney.