The Lower Earnings Limit is one of the values that can quietly turn a useful SMP tool into a stale one. If you bury it as a hardcoded number, the calculator can age into the wrong answer. BumpPay treats it as a visible assumption, with a reviewed date, source link, and the ability to edit it when guidance changes.
That design choice is not a nice-to-have. It is a durability rule. Employers and employees both need to see which threshold the estimate used and whether that value is still current. If the user is close to the line, the tool should explain that the output is sensitive to the assumption and may need a payroll check, not pretend the answer is permanent truth.
The practical next step is simple. Confirm the earnings threshold you want to use, compare average weekly earnings against it, and keep the reviewed date visible in the result summary. If the value changes next year, the calculator still works because the logic stays the same and only the data input changes.