The Benefits Review Board (“BRB”) recently discussed average weekly wage calculations in an unpublished Defense Base Act decision.  In Hamidzada v. Mission Essential Personnel, the Employer and Carrier appealed an administrative law judge’s (“ALJ”) average weekly wage decision.  The ALJ calculated Claimant’s average weekly wage using only the wages Claimant earned overseas during his employment for Employer in Afghanistan.  Employer appealed, arguing that the ALJ erred in relying on the BRB’s K.S. decision–which used to be the seminal average weekly wage decision for DBA claims–because a federal court vacated K.S. Why was K.S. so important?  For years, K.S. was used in connection with Proffitt v. Serv. Employers Int’l to more or less bar ALJs from blending together overseas and stateside earnings to determine an injured worker’s average weekly wage.  Instead, K.S. wanted average weekly wage calculations to be based on only overseas wages when the employee was paid “higher wagesRead more