The Ins and Outs of Calculating Lost Wages After an Accident
To understand how you will calculate lost wages after you have been injured in an accident, you have to know the similarity between lost wages and what is known as “lost compensation.” Lost wages is the amount of money that your employer pays you for your work, which you will now be missing out on if you can’t return to work. Lost compensation, on the other hand, refers to the other financial perks in your job that you will now lose out on. This includes the following:
- Sick days that you have accumulated and used to recover due to your injury, which you have a right to be reimbursed for
- Vacation days that you have had to use due to your accident
- Pay bonuses based on job performance, which you may have received if you hadn’t been injured
Now that you understand the difference and that you have the right to be compensated for all these aspects when you have missed time at work, we can move forward.
Obtaining the Right Medical Documentation
Before you can even account for lost wages and start your case, you should always go and speak to your doctor. A doctor will help you back up your injury claim because, without proper medical documentation, you don’t have a case with the courts. Your doctor may have mentioned that you should be taking a lot of time off of work until you heal from your injuries, which will authorize you to do so and give proof when you enter into litigation against a liable party. From there, you will be able to prove your claim.
When you move forward with your case, you will need a letter from an employer stating that you have taken off, what your hourly rate of pay is per month, how many hours a week you work, and whether or not you usually do overtime. There are many ways that lost wages can be calculated, but this is the most popular: You will determine the number of hours you missed work. From here, you determine the number of overtime hours you missed. Multiply the number of hours you missed by your hourly rate, and multiple overtime hours by 1.5 times your hourly rate. Lastly, add the values of the regular hours to the overtime hours to receive total lost wage compensation.
Sounds easy enough, right? The issue is, you must be able to show documentation proving that you have missed this time and keep good record after your injury. You may also have more complicated matters to assess in your case, such as money that reflects a promotion you just received, lost commission you would have made on sales, pension benefits lost, and more. There are also complications relating to being self-employed, because it may be difficult to show how much you have missed in expected wages. Instead, you will probably have to provide tax returns of how much you have made in previous years to show a pattern and how much you probably would have made had you been able to go to work.
At the Los Angeles Injury Group, we can help you work toward the compensation you deserve when you have been injured in an accident. If you have missed time at work due to your injury, you may have a claim. We can help you from start to finish, so just give us a call today at 310-954-7248.
Sources:
https://injury-law.freeadvice.com/injury-law/injury-law/lost_wages_personal_injury_claim.htm
https://injury-law.freeadvice.com/injury-law/injury-law/lost_time_wages_self-employed.htm