Will They Pay Me for My Lost Wages?

When we are involved in an accident due to another party’s negligence, it’s no picnic. We are often dealing with several issues that we may not have considered. Am I hurt? How badly am I hurt? How will I get a replacement vehicle? Will the party at fault pay for this? What is all this worth? How quickly can this get resolved? It can disrupt your whole life. For many people, just dealing with the day to day stresses of life (without an accident disrupting it) are challenging enough. When an accident occurs, it can make a tough situation even worse. In the middle of all this we can forget an important part of our personal injury claim - lost wages.

If the other party is at fault, it may be possible to recover your lost income as part of the claim. This is true whether you used sick time, comp time, vacation time or you simply just missed work and didn’t get paid. The good part about this, if there is one, is that your missed wages can be fairly easy to prove. The other party’s insurance company or defense attorney is almost certainly going to request proof of your missed income. This can include pay stubs or tax returns. For people that are self employed, it can be a little more challenging. In this situation I advise clients to provide a detailed breakdown of their missed work and what the value of it is.

On this note, make sure to keep a log of every hour of your missed work as the result of the accident. Missed work due to the accident itself, time dealing with the insurance company, hospital visits, follow up treatment, therapy, any potential surgeries and recovery periods, time dealing with the rental car people, any auto body shop, getting prescriptions. All this is potentially fair game as long as it can be backed up with verifiable proof that work was missed.

Sometimes people actually lose their job as the result of an accident. Make sure to keep track of this as well. The insurance company (and potentially a jury if there is a trial) is going to want to know exactly what you were making before the accident, proof that it caused you to lose you job, how long it took you to get a new job, and if your new job was the same wage as the old one.

Also, depending on your situation. You may be able to make a claim for lost earning capacity. This can be more challenging to prove, so make sure to consult with an attorney about this possiblity.

Accidents due to the fault of another can be very unpleasant and life disrupting. Once you get everything under control, make sure to consider a lost wages claim, and collect enough proof needed to potentially recover this from the party at fault. As always, do your best to avoid an accident in the first place, but if this just isn’t possible, make sure to consult with an experienced attorney to help navigate you through this challenging time and attempt to recover everything you deserve.