PJC General Negligence 2024

PJC 23.6

W ORKERS ’ C OMPENSATION —D ISABILITY , MMI & I MPAIRMENT

PJC 23.6

Weekly Earnings Offered through Bona Fide Position of Employment—Question

If you answered “Yes” to Question ______ [ 23.4B ], then answer the follow ing question. Otherwise, do not answer the following question.

QUESTION ______

What are the weekly earnings that Paul Payne was offered pursuant to the bona fide position of employment? Weekly earnings offered: _______________

COMMENT

When to use. PJC 23.6 should be used when a party appeals a decision of the Division of Workers’ Compensation of the Texas Department of Insurance (DWC) that the injured worker was not offered a bona fide position of employment or when there is a dispute over the wages offered to the worker. PJC 23.6 should be conditioned on an affirmative answer to PJC 23.4B. PJC 23.6 may be submitted without a condi tioning instruction if the DWC’s decision that the claimant was offered a bona fide position of employment has become final or if it is undisputed that a bona fide position was offered but there is a dispute about the amount of weekly earnings offered. Burden of proof. The burden of proof should be placed appropriately in accor dance with the decision of the appeals panel. See PJC 15.1. Source of question and instructions. For purposes of calculating the amount of temporary income benefits owed to an injured worker, the Code provides that “if an employee is offered a bona fide position of employment that the employee is reason ably capable of performing, given the physical condition of the employee and the geo graphic accessibility of the position to the employee, the employee’s weekly earnings after the injury are equal to the weekly wage for the position offered to the employee.” Tex. Lab. Code § 408.103(e). See also Tex. Lab. Code §408.144(c), which contains a similar provision for supplemental income benefits cases. Variable weekly earnings or multiple offers. PJC 23.6 should be modified to permit responses on a per-week basis if the evidence indicates that the weekly wages offered varied from week to week or from offer to offer.

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