If you’ve suffered injuries in a car accident, a slip-and-fall or trip-and-fall accident
or any other type of traumatic event, you most likely will have to miss work in order to properly heal from your injuries. In addition to taking time off from work, you may also have to deal with a significant decrease in your income, which will adversely affect every aspect of your life. You may be facing this situation at a time when you need that financial support and are looking at mounting medical expenses and other daily expenses.
When your injuries occurred due to someone else’s negligence (carelessness) or wrongdoing, you can file a personal injury lawsuit against the at-fault parties. As part of this lawsuit, you can seek compensation for lost wages and benefits if you can prove that you suffered such a loss as a direct result of the injury. If your injuries are catastrophic or permanent, you may also be able to seek compensation for loss of earning capacity or lost future income as part of your personal injury lawsuit.
What is Considered as Lost Income?
Lost wages are generally defined as the financial loss an injured person endures as a result of missing work. You may have to miss workdays both as a result of requiring rest to heal and as a result of the time you take for the treatment of your injuries. When you file a personal injury lawsuit, you are entitled to receive reimbursement for lost wages and benefits, whether or not you are self-employed, get paid monthly, weekly or hourly.
You can seek lost wages even if you are a part-time worker. If you lost benefits such as healthcare, sick time or vacation pay, etc. as a result of your injuries, this would also be considered lost pay under the law.
In addition to lost income and benefits, you can claim lost or diminished earning capacity. This can be applied if the injury you suffered affects your ability to work and earn wages in the future. In order to claim this loss, plaintiffs (injured victims) must be able to prove that their injuries are permanent and that it prevents them from being able to earn the same wages as they did prior to the incident.
Proving loss of earning capacity can be challenging. An experienced New York personal injury lawyer can help you prove this loss with the support of testimony regarding your condition by medical and vocational experts.
Proving Lost Income
For your injury claim to be successful, you need to prove a loss of both work time and wages. This can be done by properly documenting your losses. It is important that you keep your paychecks or pay slips and other work-related documents, which clearly show how much work you missed. If you do not have copies of your paychecks or pay slips, you should be able to get them from your employer by filing a simple request.
If you are paid hourly, your lost wages can be calculated by looking at the number of hours you missed and your hourly salary. If you are paid on commission, your lawyer can request additional information to support your claim so an accurate calculation can be made.
If you are self-employed, you will need to ensure that you have proof as well. This can, however, look a little different than if you are employed at a company. Examples of documentation that can help show your lost income include prior client invoices, statements from previous tax years and 1099 forms. Your lawyer can help you accurately calculate your lost wages.
Contacting an Experienced Lawyer
If you or a loved one has been injured as the result of someone else’s negligence (carelessness) or wrongdoing, the experienced New York personal injury attorneys at the Law Offices of Kenneth A. Wilhelm can help you better understand your legal rights and options, and also fight hard to recover just compensation for you.
For nearly 50 years, our skilled accident attorneys have established a proven track record of helping injured victims get fair compensation for their losses. Our law firm recently recovered $5,600,000 for a bicyclist who was hit by a van, and $2,550,000 for another victim of a truck accident, and $3,000,000 for a pedestrian who was hit by a car, and the full $1,000,000 insurance policy for a pedestrian who was hit by a truck, and $4,625,000 for a driver who was in a car and was hit by a van, and $2,500,000 for a man who fell through an improperly secured hole. Also, one of our clients obtained a verdict for $43,940,000 and another of our clients got a verdict for $23,500,000, both in medical malpractice cases.
Please contact us TOLL FREE 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 1-800-WORK-4-YOU (1-800-967-5496). WE CAN EVEN COME TO YOU. There is no attorneys’ fee unless we recover money for you. We can also help with personal injury and/or medical malpractice cases in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, or Florida. If you have been seriously injured in any of the 50 U.S. states, please call us and we will try to help you with your case.
Other TOLL FREE phone numbers for us are:
1-800-RADIO-LAW, 1-888-WYPADEK, OR 1-800-LAS-LEYES
Please visit us at: www.WORK4YOULAW.com