Part-time Employees

  1. Question of Full Time: If an employer does not maintain regularly scheduled full time employees, it is the department’s assumption that 40 hours is to be considered normal full time. A full-time workweek can never be fewer than 24 hours. For injuries prior to November 27, 1985, the minimum was 30 hours.
    Bring wage up to normal full-time employment for that type of work setting, unless the following apply:

    • If the employee is part of a regularly scheduled class of part-time employees, raise to minimum of 24 hour workweek or to actual hours if higher than 24. To be considered part of a regularly scheduled class of part-time employees, an employee must be a member of a group of part-time employees who do the same type of work and who maintain the same type of regular work schedule, of the same hours as each other. Note that at least 10% of total employees must work the same schedule to constitute a class, in the same classification or job title of work. There can’t be more than a 5-hour variance from week to week or from one employee to another doing the same work.

    • If the employee restricts availability on the labor market and is not employed elsewhere and 2/3’s of the wage established above is more than the person’s actual earnings, temporary disability benefits are limited to the person’s actual earnings. The restricted employment wage is only used for temporary disability payments. The wage for permanent disability and death benefits must be computed as in prior sections.

    • A self restriction statement is a signed statement or a copy of the transcription of a recorded statement from the employee indicating that he/she restricted availability on the labor market to part-time employment and was not employed elsewhere at the time of the injury. It must be submitted by the insurer or self-insured employer wishing to pay compensation under the provisions of the restricted employment section. The requirement for the statement is waived for children under the age of 16. The injured employee cannot receive more than their non-restricting peers. The TTD is then paid at 100%. (Reference Adm. Code DWD 80.02(2)(2). The minimum compensation wage in Section 102.11 (1) is not considered when applying the restricted section.

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  2. When an employee is not part of a regularly scheduled class of part-time employees, and the employer does not maintain full-time employment for the type of work, the department assumes the normal full-time workweek to be 40 hours unless there is information that can be supported to show otherwise. If there is a contention of less then 40 hours, an investigation must be made by the insurer to establish the wage under Section 102.11(1)(c), statutes. A check is made with other employers in the same area where the injured employee worked to find out the number of hours that constitute the normal full-time workweek for the same or similar type of employment. The injured employee’s wage is then based on an average of the number of hours that these other full-time employees work. C. If part-time employees are salaried or paid by some method other than an hourly rate, an hourly rate must be established. This is done by dividing the total earned by the number of hours worked in a pay period. If the employer’s records are so incomplete that this cannot be done, a check for the going rate must be made with other employers in the same area, as in Section B on the previous page.