Ohio Rev. Code » Chapter 4123
Ohio Revised Code

Ohio Rev. Code § 4123.61 (2026)

Basis for computation of benefits

✓ current as of May 2026
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Effective:
August 25, 2006
Latest Legislation:
Senate Bill 7 - 126th General Assembly
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The average weekly wage of an injured employee at the time of the injury or at the time disability due to the occupational disease begins is the basis upon which to compute benefits.

In cases of temporary total disability the compensation for the first twelve weeks for which compensation is payable shall be based on the full weekly wage of the claimant at the time of the injury or at the time of the disability due to occupational disease begins; when a factory, mine, or other place of employment is working short time in order to divide work among the employees, the bureau of workers' compensation shall take that fact into consideration when determining the wage for the first twelve weeks of temporary total disability.

Compensation for all further temporary total disability shall be based as provided for permanent disability claims.

In death, permanent total disability claims, permanent partial disability claims, and impairment of earnings claims, the claimant's or the decedent's average weekly wage for the year preceding the injury or the date the disability due to the occupational disease begins is the weekly wage upon which compensation shall be based. In ascertaining the average weekly wage for the year previous to the injury, or the date the disability due to the occupational disease begins any period of unemployment due to sickness, industrial depression, strike, lockout, or other cause beyond the employee's control shall be eliminated.

In cases where there are special circumstances under which the average weekly wage cannot justly be determined by applying this section, the administrator of workers' compensation, in determining the average weekly wage in such cases, shall use such method as will enable the administrator to do substantial justice to the claimants, provided that the administrator shall not recalculate the claimant's average weekly wage for awards for permanent total disability solely for the reason that the claimant continued working and the claimant's wages increased following the injury.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 61 cases (3 in the last 5 years), 1963–2023 · leading case: State ex rel. Tantarelli v. Decapua Ents., Inc. (Slip Opinion), 2019 Ohio 517 (Ohio 2019).
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State ex rel. Tantarelli v. Decapua Ents., Inc. (Slip Opinion), 2019 Ohio 517 (Ohio 2019). · cites it 8× “Tantarelli twice moved appellee Industrial Commission to dispense with the standard statutory formula and to instead calculate his AWW using a method that would do him "substantial justice," as R.C. 4123.61 permits in cases of "special circumstances.”
State ex rel. Price v. Cent. Servs., Inc., 97 Ohio St. 3d 245 (Ohio 2002). · cites it 30× “This AWW was calculated on the basis of Price’s earnings for the year preceding his injury (1968), in accordance with the standard method for calculating a claimant’s AWW under R.C. 4123.61. Price eventually returned to his employment and continued working at higher salaries for…”
State ex rel. Price v. Cent. Serv., Inc., 2002 Ohio 6397 (Ohio 2002). · cites it 29× “This AWW was calculated on the basis of Price’s earnings for the year preceding his injury (1968), in accordance with the standard method for calculating a claimant’s AWW under R.C. 4123.61. Price SUPREME COURT OF OHIO eventually returned to his employment and continued working…”
State ex rel. Matheny v. Indus. Comm., 2022 Ohio 1824 (Ohio Ct. App. 2022). · cites it 28× “19AP-871 2 {¶ 3} On May 30, 2018, a district hearing officer ("DHO"), denied relator's request finding that such benefits are not wages for the purposes of calculating AWW pursuant to R.C. 4123.61. Relator appealed this decision to a staff hearing officer ("SHO"), who held a…”
State ex rel. Clark v. Indus. Comm'n, 634 N.E.2d 1014 (Ohio 1994). · cites it 6× “As “the basis upon which to compute benefits,” R.C. 4123.61, average weekly wage “is designed to ‘find a fair basis for award for the loss of future compensation.”
State ex rel. Stevens v. Indus. Comm'n, 850 N.E.2d 55 (Ohio 2006). · cites it 8× “{¶ 1} We are once again asked to consider whether a natural increase in earnings over the course of time is a “special circumstance” under R.C. 4123.61 that is sufficient to justify recalculation of an individual’s average weekly wage.”
Riley v. Indus. Comm'n, 458 N.E.2d 428 (Ohio Ct. App. 1983). · cites it 6× “R.C. 4123.61 provides, as pertinent, as follows: “The average weekly wage of an injured employee at the time of the injury * * * shall be taken as the basis upon which to compute benefits.”
State ex rel. Wireman v. Indus. Comm'n, 551 N.E.2d 1265 (Ohio 1990). · cites it 4× “The appellate court correctly observed that R.C. 4123.61 mandates *288 omission of any period of unemployment beyond the employee’s control, not any week.”
Smith v. Indus. Comm'n, 494 N.E.2d 1140 (Ohio 1986). · cites it 6× “R.C. 4123.61 provides in relevant part: “* * * In ascertaining the average weekly wage for the year previous to the injury, or the date the disability due to the occupational disease begins any period of unemployment due to sickness, industrial depression, strike, lockout, or…”
State ex rel. McDulin v. Indus. Comm'n, 732 N.E.2d 367 (Ohio 2000). · cites it 4× “” R.C. 4123.61. The “standard formula for establishing [average weekly wage] is to divide claimant’s earnings for the year preceding injury by fifty-two weeks.”
State Ex Rel. Valley Pontiac Co. v. Indus. Comm'n, 594 N.E.2d 52 (Ohio Ct. App. 1991). · cites it 4× “While the referee found that the commission’s decision could not be supported by reference to R.”
Holeton v. Crouse Cartage Co., 748 N.E.2d 1111 (Ohio 2001). “R.C. 4123.61. Therefore, like the tort verdict, the subrogation amount for future benefits is based on reasonable assumptions that, although inherently uncertain, provide for a final resolution.”
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