Lost wages are a big part of the damages you can claim when you suffer an injury because of someone else’s negligence. Proving this loss is crucial in personal injury cases.
First, you need to know the difference between lost wages and lost earning capacity. Lost wages are the income you missed during your recovery period. They include hourly wages, salary, and bonuses. However, lost earning capacity is a wider concept.
It is how much you could have made without getting hurt. The key distinction here is that the injury directly causes the lost wages. However, lost earning capacity is a longer-term impact of the injury on your potential career.
The defendant or their insurance company is responsible for paying your lost wages in personal injury claims. Lost wages are usually part of a broader compensation package if someone’s negligence caused the injury, the defendant’s insurer usually picks up the tab.
But it’s hard to prove this claim without much documentation that you couldn’t work and the loss was directly related to the injury.
You will need a comprehensive set of employment records to make a claim. These will show how much you earned in the past and what you’ve done.
Anchorage law firms can help you obtain paychecks, tax returns, and other relevant records if you aren’t sure how to gather them. Proving income before the injury is necessary to show that you have a regular income, and showing the financial impact of the accident is just as important.
One of the best ways to show you earned income before your injury is with pay stubs. They show you what you earned per pay period, whether overtime or bonuses.
These pay stubs will help you organize them to show the financial losses you suffered during your recovery. If you are self-employed, you may need to use other forms of documentation, such as contracts or invoices.
Another important document to provide is tax returns. But they give you a broader view of your annual income and can corroborate the details from your pay stubs.
Tax returns are especially useful for self-employed people who want to establish income over a longer period. Getting tax returns from the past three to five years can make a huge difference in your case.
It is important to keep a record of communication with your employer regarding your injury. That includes emails, letters, or text messages that affirm that you can’t work, missed dates, and any agreements about paid or unpaid leave. The injury is indicated in these documents as the reason for your absence from work.
If you’re salaried, calculating lost wages can be straightforward. Typically, it’s a multiple of your weekly salary multiplied by the number of weeks you couldn’t work.
If you’re an hourly employee, multiply your hourly wage by the hours you normally work. Other forms of compensation, such as overtime or bonuses, should also be considered if applicable.
Careful documentation and organization of your income records are necessary to prove lost wages in a personal injury case. Demonstrating your lost wages can make a big difference to your claim.
Featured Image Source: https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/frustrated-young-woman-feeling-stressed-about-financial-problems-gm1271492868-374060948?searchscope=image%2Cfilm
