If there is one number that matters more than any other in your workers' compensation case, it is your Average Weekly Wage (AWW). Get it wrong — even by a little — and you will be underpaid for every week you are out of work, every permanency award you receive, and potentially even your settlement. Yet many injured workers never look at this number critically. This guide explains exactly how the AWW is calculated, what goes into it, where mistakes commonly happen, and how to verify that yours is correct.
What Is the Average Weekly Wage?
Your AWW is a calculated figure that represents your average earnings per week before you were injured. The New York Workers' Compensation Board uses your AWW as the base for computing almost every benefit you are entitled to receive.
Under New York Workers' Compensation Law §14, the AWW is generally calculated by taking your total wages earned in the 52 weeks immediately before your date of accident and dividing by 52. If you were not employed for the full 52 weeks, the Board may look at a representative period or use a similar worker's wages as a proxy.
How Your Weekly Benefit Rate Is Calculated
Once the AWW is established, your weekly disability benefit (called the "compensation rate") is two-thirds (66.7%) of your AWW — but it is capped at a statutory maximum rate that changes every year on July 1. As of July 1, 2025, the maximum weekly rate is $1,222.42.
So if your AWW is $1,200/week, your comp rate is $800/week (2/3 of $1,200). If your AWW is $2,400/week, your comp rate would be $1,600 — but it is capped at $1,222.42 because of the statutory maximum.
Quick formula: Comp Rate = AWW × 2/3, not to exceed the statutory maximum for the year of injury.
What Wages Count Toward Your AWW?
New York law takes a broad view of "wages." The following types of compensation generally count toward your AWW:
- Regular wages and salary — your base hourly or annual pay
- Overtime pay — this is commonly forgotten, but overtime is included
- Tips — if you worked in a tip-credit industry (restaurants, hospitality), reported tips count
- Commissions — sales commissions and performance bonuses that are part of regular pay
- Bonuses — not all bonuses qualify, but regularly-paid production bonuses often do
- Vacation and sick pay — in most cases, paid time off that was included in your wages counts
- Wages from a second or third job — if the disability from your injury prevents you from working your other job(s), those wages are included
Wages that typically do not count include employer contributions to health insurance, pension contributions, expense reimbursements, and one-time discretionary gifts.
Multiple Jobs: A Common AWW Undercount
One of the most common and costly AWW errors involves workers who hold multiple jobs. If you were working a side job, a second part-time position, or had self-employment income at the time of your injury, and the injury prevents you from performing that work too, those wages belong in your AWW.
Insurance carriers do not automatically include second-job wages. You need to bring documentation — pay stubs, W-2s, self-employment tax returns — and specifically request that the second job's wages be included. An attorney can help you make that argument before the Board.
Seasonal Workers and Partial-Year Employment
If you were employed for fewer than 52 weeks before the accident — perhaps because you are a seasonal worker, recently hired, or had a gap in employment — the law gives the Board flexibility. The Board may use:
- The actual wages you earned divided by the actual number of weeks you worked
- The average wages of a similar worker in the same trade
- Any other method that produces a fair and just result under the circumstances
Seasonal workers often have their AWW calculated in a way that disadvantages them unless someone specifically argues for the most favorable method.
How to Find Your AWW on the Notice of Decision
After your case is established at the Workers' Compensation Board, you will receive Notices of Decision (NODs) from the Judge. The AWW is listed on these documents. Look for a line that says "Average Weekly Wage" or "AWW" followed by a dollar figure.
Compare that figure to your own records. Pull your pay stubs or W-2s from the 52 weeks before your injury and add up all of your wages. Divide by 52. Does the number on the NOD match? If not — or if you think wages were missed — this is a discrepancy worth pursuing.
Challenging a Wrong AWW
If your AWW was calculated incorrectly, you or your attorney can raise the issue at a hearing before the Workers' Compensation Law Judge. You will need documentary evidence — typically pay stubs, employer wage statements, or tax records covering the 52-week period before the accident.
The burden is on you (or your attorney) to demonstrate what the correct AWW should be. The insurance carrier is not going to volunteer that they missed your overtime or your second job. This is one of the primary reasons injured workers benefit from having legal representation — an experienced attorney audits the AWW early and fights to correct it before it affects years of benefit payments.
Why the AWW Compounds Over Time
Even a small AWW error compounds significantly. If your AWW is understated by $200/week, your weekly comp rate is underpaid by about $133/week (two-thirds of $200). Over 52 weeks of temporary disability, that is nearly $7,000 in underpaid benefits. On a Schedule Loss of Use award rated at 50% of the arm (156 weeks), that same $133/week error means over $20,000 less in your pocket.
This is why the AWW is not just a technical number — it is the foundation of your entire case value.
The AWW and Your Comp Rate Are Different Things
People often confuse the AWW with the compensation rate. To be clear:
- AWW = your actual average pre-injury weekly wages
- Compensation rate = 2/3 of AWW, capped at the statutory maximum
When you are receiving Temporary Total or Temporary Partial Disability benefits, you are paid at the compensation rate — not at your full AWW. This is by design: workers' comp is meant to partially replace lost wages, not fully replace them.
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Open AWW Calculator →Key Takeaways
- The AWW is calculated from the 52 weeks of wages before your date of accident
- Your weekly comp rate = AWW × 2/3, capped at the statutory maximum for your year of injury
- Overtime, tips, commissions, and second-job wages all belong in the AWW
- Errors in the AWW can cost you thousands of dollars over the life of your case
- You can challenge a wrong AWW at a Board hearing with documentation