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Fred Meyer9/5/2000
Fred Meyer, Inc. appeals the trial court's decision to affirm the time loss compensation rate determined by the Board of Industrial Appeals for an injured worker. The Board set the rate to include increased pay on her Sunday shift and to include pay she received for vacation, holiday, sick, and funeral leave. Fred Meyer argues that the rate should not include these payments because they do not constitute her daily wage. We affirm because her monthly wages included these payments.
FACTS
Shearer worked for Fred Meyer as a butcher until 1993 when she suffered a cervical injury at work that resulted in a permanent partial disability. While being treated for that injury, she was also diagnosed as suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome, for which she underwent surgery in 1994. Shearer filed for workers' compensation but felt that the wage calculation did not adequately reflect her wages. She appealed to the Board of Industrial Appeals to include all her wages in the calculation. On weekdays, Shearer earned a base wage of $12.40 per hour. As compensation for her work on Sundays, however, Fred Meyer paid Shearer higher hourly rates, known as 'shift differential' pay. Shift differential pay is not compensation for overtime but rather additional compensation for working undesirable hours. An overtime wage requires services beyond regularly fixed hours. See Black's Law Dictionary 996 (5th ed. 1979). In contrast, shift differential pay at Fred Meyer merely requires work on Sundays or holidays. Shearer frequently worked Sundays about 75 percent of the time and received shift differential pay of $18.60 per hour for those days. In addition, Fred Meyer also offered paid vacation, holiday, funeral, and sick leave. In the 26-week period prior to her cervical injury, she averaged 36.1 hours per week, including compensation for paid hours of vacation, funeral, and holiday leave.
After a hearing, the Board remanded to the Department of Labor and Industries to recalculate the claimant's wages to include her shift differential pay as well as paid vacation, holiday, sick, and funeral leave. Fred Meyer appealed to the King County Superior Court and filed a motion for partial summary judgment to reverse the Board's decision. Shearer made a cross-motion for partial summary judgment to affirm the Board's decision. The trial court granted Shearer's motion for summary judgment and later entered a final judgment with findings of fact and conclusions of law. Fred Meyer appeals.
DISCUSSION
Fred Meyer argues that, under RCW 51.08.178, Shearer's daily wage should not include the increased pay the shift differential that she receives on Sundays. Since an interpretation of a statute is a question of law, our review is de novo. Rose v. Department of Labor & Indus., 57 Wn. App. 751, 757, 790 P.2d 201 (1990). Nevertheless, we accord substantial weight to the interpretation of the agency charged with administering the statute. Rose, 57 Wn. App. at 757. In addition, we construe the Industrial Insurance Act liberally to provide compensation to covered employees, with doubts resolved in favor of the employee. Department of Labor & Indus. v. Avundes, 140 Wn.2d 282, 285, 996 P.2d 593 (2000).
RCW 51.08.178(1) states: "For the purposes of this title, the monthly wages the worker was receiving from all employment at the time of injury shall be the basis upon which compensation is computed unless otherwise provided specifically in the statute concerned." (Emphasis added.) See also Avundes, 140 Wn.2d at 290 (RCW 51.08.178(1) is the default provision when other sections do not specifically apply). The statute does not otherwise provide a specific basis up
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