If you were hit by a truck in Florida and unable to work, you can seek compensation for lost pay. Lost wages are one of the damages that car accident victims can seek through a personal injury lawsuit.
Be sure to keep track of the days you miss while injured and document the time off with your employer. This will make it easier to prove once you file your lawsuit.
We’ll guide you in the next steps when you’ve lost wages due to a car accident.
What Are Lost Wages?
Lost wages are any earnings you would have made had you been able to work during the time you were injured. These lost wages can include:
- Hourly wages
- Overtime pay
- Bonuses
- Sick or vacation days
- Perks/benefits
- Tips
To prove lost wages, you’ll need to work with your employer to document all these areas of compensation to prove the wages you’ve missed out on while injured. To do this, you’ll need to prove your regular wages, but also several other areas of your business.
- Statement from your employer stating that they employed you at the time of your accident
- Days you missed work
- Average overtime wages per paycheck and the rate of your overtime work
- Regular perks or benefits
- Typical hours you work each week
- Bonus program and whether you would have been eligible
You’ll obtain a letter from your employer, pay stubs, tax returns, and other financial data in order to prove your financial impacts from not being able to work.
While proving lost wages can be tedious work, it’s not necessarily hard to prove. You should discuss this with your attorney to make sure you include lost wages in your settlement negotiations.
What Is Lost Earning Potential?
Serious car accident injuries can lead to long-term work impacts and limitations on your ability to work. Lost earning potential is another area of personal injury compensation you can seek in your Florida car accident lawsuit.
Lost earnings potential covers income you will miss out on in the future. This area of compensation covers lost promotions and opportunities as well as your ability to work in general.
Calculating this area of car accident compensation will be a little more complicated than showcasing short-term losses. Sometimes it takes an expert to prove lost earning potential.
Seeking lost earning potential is more challenging because the calculations are not as direct as lost wages where you can show what you should have earned. Instead, you’ll be evaluating the work that you can still do and the earnings from that job compared to the work you did before your injuries and calculating the difference. It’s not as exact as lost wages.
Benefits of Working With an Attorney
Lost wages and medical bills tend to be the largest areas of compensation in a personal injury lawsuit. Overlooking this area of compensation could significantly decrease your total settlement.
If you’re planning to seek lost wages or lost earning potential, you should work with a skilled Florida attorney. Documenting and proving these areas of compensation can be challenging.
When an accident impacts your career and your income, turn to the attorneys at Goldman & Daszkal.
Schedule a free consultation now to learn more about how our team can help you recover from a car accident.