What’s My Wage Again? Changes to Calculation and Payment of Temporary Disability Benefits in Oregon
By Brooklyn Johnson, Attorney at Law
In its implementation of HB 2802 (2025), the Oregon Workers’ Compensation Division (WCD) published updated final rules regarding OAR 436-060, effective January 1, 2026. These updated rules include changes to 436-060-0025 (Worker’s Weekly Wage Calculation and Rate of Temporary Disability Compensation) and 436-060-0030 (Payment of Temporary Partial Disability Compensation). The changes attempt to simplify the calculation of temporary disability benefits, clarifying the types of wages to be considered and specifying when and how those wages must be considered in this calculation.
OAR 436-060-0025 describes the calculation of the worker’s average weekly wage (AWW) to determine the temporary total disability (TTD) rate. This calculation is based on the worker’s wages at the time of injury, including regular wages, irregular wages, or both. If the worker receives irregular wages, the insurer must calculate the worker’s AWW for the period of 52 weeks before the date of injury, and OAR 436-060-0025 offers guidelines on this calculation based on any pay rate change, new wage earning agreement, and/or gap in earnings.
A “pay rate change” is defined as an increase or decrease in a previously established pay rate. The WCD added the following: “a pay rate change does not include fluctuations in the rate based on the number of hours worked in a period.” This change narrows the definition of a pay rate change to formal, “previously established” rates and explicitly excludes small day-to-day changes in the number of irregular hours a person works in a period.
The WCD also added a discussion of one-time bonuses to OAR 436-060-0025 and stated bonuses must be excluded from the calculation of the worker’s AWW. The addition states: “a one-time bonus (for example, a sign-on bonus or relocation bonus) paid to the worker for accepting a job offer may not be included in the wages used to calculate the worker’s weekly wage.”
OAR 436-060-0030(1) details the payment of temporary partial disability (TPD) compensation. In previous versions of this rule, the insurer was instructed to calculate “post-injury wages from any kind of work,” suggesting post-injury wages were only limited to wages earned from some kind of work. In this most recent change, the WCD updated OAR 436-060-0030(1) to resolve this conflict and clarify that post-injury wages are not limited only to wages “from any kind of work.”
The WCD furthered this clarification on post-injury wages in its change to OAR 436-060-0030(6) regarding the calculation of TPD when a modified job no longer exists or the job offer is withdrawn. Previously, this section stated “TPD must be paid at the full TTD rate as of the date a modified job no longer exists or the job offer is withdrawn by the employer”. In its most recent change, the WCD removed the word “full” and added the following: “Temporary disability paid under this section must be calculated under (1) of this rule, accounting for any post-injury wages.” In effect, when a modified job no longer exists or the offer is withdrawn, insurers are no longer required to pay the worker the full TTD rate. Instead, the insurer must pay the worker TPD benefits, as described in 436-060-0030(1), offsetting the temporary disability benefits against any post-injury wages.
Moving forward, the changes to OAR 436-060-0025 and OAR 436-060-0030 attempt to offer clarity to the challenging calculation of temporary disability benefits. For insurers seeking further guidance on temporary disability benefits, the attorneys in our Oregon practice group are always available to offer our expertise.