In the video above, Brad walks through a case that started six weeks into a new job. The client hurt their lower back doing warehouse work, and the weekly comp check came in at $310.42. A new employee has almost no wage history, so North Carolina law calculates the rate from a similar employee’s wages, and the adjuster had used that employee’s net pay instead of gross. The correct rate was $480.68 a week. The error ran for about a year, the carrier refused to fix it, and it took a hearing request to recover roughly $10,000 in back pay. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
How workers’ comp is calculated in North Carolina
If you have been at your job for years, the math is simple: what you actually earned over the 52 weeks before your injury, divided by 52. That is your average weekly wage, and your own pay stubs tell the story. Your weekly disability check is two-thirds of that average, up to the state maximum for your year of injury. The form that carries the calculation is Form 22, and the Form 22 guide covers what belongs in the total, the seven-day gap rule, and the 2026 cap.
A new employee does not have 52 weeks of pay stubs. As Brad puts it in the video, you have no gut check, nothing to compare the number against. That is exactly why this group gets underpaid.
New on the job? The “similar employee” rule
How do you calculate a comp rate for someone who has only worked six weeks? North Carolina law has an answer, and it is a fair one when it is done right: the carrier looks at a similar employee, someone doing the same kind of job for the same employer who did work the full year, and borrows their 52 weeks of wages as the stand-in. Their 52 weeks stand in for yours.
Two things follow. The Form 22 should say the rate was set off a similar employee, and the records behind it should show whose wages were used and how many weeks they cover. And the calculation runs on gross wages, before taxes and deductions, not take-home pay.
The real case: net instead of gross
The Form 22 the carrier produced showed only earnings: no days worked marked, nothing to check the figures against. That is a flag, so Brad demanded the wage records behind the form.
The adjuster had used the similar employee’s net wages: take-home pay, after taxes and deductions. The law says the calculation runs on gross wages. On gross wages the rate was $480.68 a week, not $310.42. That is about $170 a week lighter, every week, for about a year, which is being underpaid by about 35% of what the client was owed.
When Brad showed the carrier its own math, the carrier refused to fix it. So he filed a hearing request with the North Carolina Industrial Commission. A hearing request forces the case into mediation first, and at mediation the carrier agreed to what it had refused for months: a consent order fixing the comp rate at $480.68 a week, plus about $10,000 in back pay, the difference week by week for that year. The case later settled for $85,000, and the corrected rate added more than $25,000 of that value. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
“Net instead of gross. That’s the whole error. One word on one form.”
— Bradley H. Smith
The same pattern, a different client
A second client was less than two months into a new job with a moving company when they fell from the back of a truck and hurt their back. Out of work for months, their weekly check was $341.82. This time the adjuster had left in stretches of more than seven consecutive days when the client had no earnings at all. The law says those gaps come out of the calculation; leaving them in waters down the average, because the same money is divided by more time.
With the gaps removed, the rate went from $341.82 to $456.93, an underpayment of about 25% of what they were owed. It was resolved with the defense attorney within a month of Brad catching this error, and the case settled for more than $100,000, a settlement that would have been about a quarter smaller if the error had never been caught. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
Why new employees get underpaid
New employees are the easiest people for an insurance company to underpay, because there is no wage history to check and nobody thinks to ask whose paycheck the math came from. The carrier prepares the Form 22 and the carrier pays the checks. In both cases above, the error only got fixed because somebody demanded the records and did the math. The math is checkable. Somebody just has to check it.
Five things to do this week
- Ask for a copy of your Form 22. The insurance company calculated your rate on it. You are entitled to see it, and if your rate was set off a similar employee, the form should say so.
- Demand the wage records behind the Form 22. Not the summary, the records: whose wages, and how many weeks they cover. A form that shows earnings with nothing to check them against is a flag.
- Check the word. Gross wages, before taxes, not net. If the numbers look like somebody’s take-home pay, that is the error from this video.
- Check the calendar. Any stretch of more than seven straight days with no earnings should be out of the calculation. Empty weeks left in mean your rate is deflated.
- Do the two-thirds check. Your weekly check should be two-thirds of the average weekly wage. If nobody can show you the wage number your check is two-thirds of, something is wrong.
Until that math is verified, do not sign anything else: not a settlement offer, not a rate correction the carrier hands you.
Frequently asked questions
How is workers’ comp calculated in North Carolina?
Under the standard method, the average weekly wage is what you actually earned over the 52 weeks before the injury, divided by 52. The weekly disability check is two-thirds of that average, up to the state maximum for your year of injury. The wage statement that carries the calculation is Form 22.
How is my comp rate calculated if I was new on the job?
When you have only worked a few weeks, North Carolina law uses a similar employee: someone doing the same kind of job for the same employer who worked the full year. Their 52 weeks of gross wages stand in for yours. The Form 22 should say the rate was set that way, and the records behind it should show whose wages were used.
What is the difference between gross and net wages on a Form 22?
Gross wages are what the employee earned before taxes and deductions. Net wages are take-home pay. The calculation runs on gross wages; using net, as the adjuster did in the video’s case, makes every weekly check too small.
Do gaps in work count against my average weekly wage?
Any stretch of more than seven consecutive days with no earnings comes out of the calculation. Leaving those gaps in divides the same money by more time and pulls the average down.
What if the carrier refuses to fix a wrong comp rate?
A hearing request filed with the North Carolina Industrial Commission forces the case into mediation. In the case in the video, the carrier agreed at mediation to a consent order fixing the rate at $480.68 a week, and about $10,000 in back pay followed. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
Have a specialist check the math before you sign
Roughly 3.5% of North Carolina lawyers are Board-Certified Specialists. Bradley H. Smith is certified as a specialist in workers’ compensation law by the North Carolina State Bar, checks the wage math as a core part of every case, and is licensed in both NC and SC. No attorney’s fee unless we recover.
Call (980) 281-9984 for a free consultation, or start with our Charlotte workers’ compensation lawyer overview.
Keep learning
- Can Workers’ Comp Stop Paying You? 3 Legal Reasons in NC (Form 23)
- North Carolina Workers’ Compensation, Explained (the NC hub)
- The 38% Underpayment Hiding in Your NC Workers’ Comp Form 22
- What Happens When You File a Workers’ Comp Hearing Request in NC?
- Charlotte Workers’ Compensation Lawyer, certified as a specialist in workers’ compensation law by the North Carolina State Bar
- More short answers from Brad: the Video Center
Last updated: September 1, 2026.
Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Case examples are shared with client details anonymized. This page is general information about North Carolina law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case is different. Talk to a lawyer about yours.