(a) General. All cases reduced for worker's compensation or public disability benefit are recomputed in the second year after the year the reduction was first applied and every third year after that. The redetermined rate is effective with January of the year after the year the redetermination is made. The redetermined reduction is used only if it provides an annuity rate that is higher than the previous annuity rate.
(b) Redetermined average current earnings. The average current earnings amount used in redetermining a worker's compensation or public disability benefit reduction is determined by multiplying the initial average current earnings amount by:
(1) The average total wages (including wages that exceed the maximum used in computing social security benefits) of all persons for whom wages were reported to the Secretary of the Treasury for the year before the year or redetermination, divided by the average total wages for 1977 or, if later, the year before the year the reduction was first computed. If the result is not a multiple of $1.00, it is rounded to the next lower multiple of $1.00; or
(2) If the reduction was first computed before 1978, the average taxable wages reported to the Secretary of Health and Human Services for the first quarter of 1977, divided by the average taxable wages for the first quarter of the year before the year the reduction was first computed. If the result is not a multiple of $1.00, it is rounded to the next lower multiple of $1.00.