How Are My Lost Wages Proven in a Personal Injury Case?
If you or a loved one has suffered a serious personal injury, you may need prolonged medical treatment, physical therapy, and rehabilitation. You may not be able to return to work for weeks or even months. Not being able to take any further paid sick leave or satisfy the minimum job requirements can result in financial stress.
You don’t have to suffer financial hardship because of the fault of another. An experienced personal injury attorney in Atlanta will be able to help you seek maximum compensation for your injuries and losses by proving the negligence of all the liable parties involved.
What is Included in Lost Income?
There are several definitions of lost income. It is explained as legitimate wages that an injury victim loses by not being able to be present or perform their job responsibilities. Lost wages may include various other payments in addition to the basic salary or hourly wages. This includes:
- Current salary or wages or business income
- Overtime
- Commission
- Bonuses
- Tips
- Income from side hustles, part-time employment, or freelancing
- Future loss of income and loss of earning capacity (For instance, an injured plumber may be forced to seek alternative employment after a disability, resulting in lower long-term income.)
Documenting Lost Wages in Personal Injury Claims in Atlanta
You can prove the extent of lost wages by providing documentation of your financial losses that supports the claim. You will need to submit evidence to the insurance company for proving income losses. This includes:
- Recent W-2s that show your earnings from previous tax years
- Pay stubs from before and after the incident
- Wage verification form filled by the employer outlining the usual number of hours worked in a week, wages, and the number of days you missed work
Self-employed individuals or those owning a business can provide accounts receivable records and business tax returns. It’s important for self-employed accident victims to keep a record of the weeks of work they missed because of their injuries. You may also want to keep a record of the job opportunities you had to decline because of the injuries.
Proving Future Loss of Earnings
Any injury that takes a long time to heal or limits your movement can have a substantial impact on the amount of money you may earn in the future. You can seek compensation from the at-fault party for this reduction in your future earning capacity. Compensation for future lost income is provided to reimburse an injury victim for the decrease in their ability to earn the same type of income.
You may need to provide the following types of evidence to estimate a loss of earning capacity:
- Medical records for demonstrating permanent or long-term effects of the injury
- Testimony from vocational experts and letters from employers to show the impact of the injury on work capacity
- Pay stubs, tax returns, and other wage documentation to chart the increase in wages over a period of time before the injury occurred and to estimate the manner in which the income would have likely increased in the future
You should work with a qualified personal injury attorney that can help you gather these necessary documents and submit a demand package to the insurance company.
How to Prove Inability to Work Following a Personal Injury?
Your physician will need to say that your injuries prevent you from working or that there are certain restrictions to the kind of work you can perform. The doctor may base their conclusions partly on your pain and other symptoms. But, your opinions alone are not enough to excuse you from work. You will need to get the doctor to determine that your injuries prevent you from fulfilling the job responsibilities.
The employer may terminate your employment without a note from the doctor. The doctor’s note should describe the accommodations required for you to work. The doctor should also explain the expected time taken for recovery and whether the restrictions on your capacity to work can be lifted.
Not all workplaces in Georgia can accommodate workers’ restrictions. There are only so many reasonable accommodations that can be made under the Americans with Disabilities Act. This makes it important to accurately calculate the lost income component of your personal injury damages.
Factoring in Retirement Age and “Present Value”
You will need to provide sufficient evidence regarding the length of time expected for you to be able to resume your job responsibilities. In most cases, the jury doesn’t award future lost earnings beyond the normal retirement age. The award of future lost earnings is reduced to the present value. This is because money earned today is worth far more in value than a dollar earned in the future.
Your attorney will work towards maximizing the compensation by using the argument that any present value reductions should be offset by the raises and promotions that you would have received had the injury not prevented your career from progressing.
Get a Leading Personal Injury Attorney on Your Side to Maximize Your Financial Compensation
If you or a loved one has been seriously injured and experienced a loss of income, the seasoned attorneys at Miller Injury Trial Law can help you understand your legal rights and recover maximum compensation from the at-fault parties and their insurance companies.
Our attorneys have the knowledge and resources to help you whether you have a personal injury claim or a workers’ compensation claim. We are happy to provide you with a free case evaluation. Call us at 855-44MILLER or reach us online.
