Workplace injuries can dent your family’s plans for the future. Who is going to pay the bills if you have to spend weeks away from work? Fortunately, most employers are required to carry workers’ compensation insurance which should at least cover you for medical expenses if you have been injured on the job as well as a percentage of the wages you would have earned. Claiming workers’ compensation is never quite as straightforward as it seems. Talk to a workers’ comp. lawyer if you encounter any obstacles when making a claim. Five Below’s Company Profile Five Below stores sell all sorts of discounted goods mainly aimed at younger age customers although adults use the stores, too. Most Five Below stores are located in shopping malls and many of them are also located in college towns. The stores sell anything from candy and soft drinks to novelty items, party gear and cheap electronic gadgets. The Five Below chain was established by an entrepreneur called David Schlessinger in 2002 and the first store was opened in Pennsylvania, where the current headquarters is located. There are now over 520 Five Below stores operating in more than 30 states which employ 7,500 employees. Hourly Wages at Five Below Most employees in Five Below stores work as sales associates or cashiers but there are always one or two assistant managers, depending on the size of the store and the volume of business. Cashiers earn $8.33 an hour, while sales associates earn a little more at $8.62. Crew leaders who are somewhere between a manager and a sales associate in terms of ranking earn $10.15 an hour. Retail store assistant managers earn $13.16 an hour and are the highest paid employees working in most stores. All hourly rates were supplied courtesy of payscale.com and were said to be correct at August 2017. Hourly Wage Calculations for Workers’ Comp. in a Five Below Store If you are injured at a Five Below store and are wondering how much you could claim in compensation you will be limited to two types of payments. These are both for economic losses that you incur because of your injury. Firstly, you should be able to claim all of your medical costs back, even medical costs for future treatment if your recovery is going to take many weeks, months or even years. Secondly, you can claim a percentage of any losses due to time away from your normal job. This is calculated from the hourly wage you are employed at, the number of hours you would be expected to have worked if you hadn’t been injured and a percentage of the full amount. This varies a little from state to state, but is normally around two thirds of the full amount earned. As an example, if you work at Five Below as a sales associate and earn $8.62 an hour but are injured at work and are forced to stay at home for a month (160 hours in total), then your compensation claim for this component would be as follows: 8.62 (hourly wage) x 160 (no. of hours lost because of work injury) x 0.67 (percentage of wage allowed to claim) = $924. Consult with a Workers' Comp Attorney Even if you know that your employer has workers’ comp. insurance, like all insurance policies, it might not be too happy to acknowledge or co-operate with your claim. If you encounter resistance to a workers’ comp. claim on your part, talk to a workers’ comp. attorney to see if you can obtain some valuable advice. In the event that you are denied any compensation or the amount offered seems insufficient the attorney may be able to help you negotiate a more successful outcome. *The content of this article serves only to provide information and should not be construed as legal advice. If you file a claim against Five Below, or any other party, you may not be entitled to any compensation.
