Bill > HF673

This bill modifies Iowa's workers' compensation law to change how weekly workers' compensation benefits are calculated and to add an annual cost-of-living adjustment. Specifically, the bill requires that when calculating an employee's weekly earnings for workers' compensation purposes, employers must now include overtime and premium pay, which were previously excluded. The bill introduces a new provision that will increase permanent total disability and death benefits annually on January 1st by the same percentage as the cost-of-living adjustment made to Social Security disability benefits in the preceding December. The bill also makes several technical changes to how weekly earnings are computed for different types of employees, such as those paid hourly, daily, or by output, ensuring a more comprehensive calculation of potential compensation. For employees with less than thirteen weeks of work history, the bill provides guidelines for estimating potential earnings, and it includes special provisions for specific worker categories like volunteer emergency workers, elected officials, and professional athletes. Additionally, the bill adjusts the definition of "gross earnings" to remove the previous exclusion of overtime pay, further supporting the goal of more accurately representing an employee's total compensation for workers' compensation calculations.

Labor and Employment

https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislation/BillBook?ga=91&ba=HF673