Personal Injury Claims And Lost Wages: What You Need To Know

15 December 2015
 Categories: Law, Blog

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If you have been injured in an accident that was caused by another person's negligence, you may be eligible to be compensated for losses associated with the accident. Medical expenses, loss of personal property and pain and suffering are areas of compensation that you can expect, in addition to lost wages. Most people miss work when they are injured, so read on to learn more about how your lost wages are calculated and how much you could expect to receive.

What Are Lost Wages?

All time missed from work, including all treatments, tests and therapy appointments related to the accident are pertinent. Include your commute time to and from any appointments and don't forget any mental health treatments you may be receiving. Time spent at home recuperating should be included as well. Stay on top of the paperwork and record-keeping with a journal, calendar or list of all accident-related events. Ensure that you can back up your claims with receipts or journal entries.

Documents Needed to Calculate Lost Wages

You are entitled to be compensated from your time lost from work, no matter whether you are full-time, part-time, self-employed, hourly or salaried. It's helpful to have the following to provide to your personal injury attorney:

  • For hourly and salaried workers: pay stubs or a letter from your company stating your salary and your usual working hours.
  • For the self-employed: your most recent tax return or the last few months of bank statements. Please note: you do not need to provide the entire tax return, just the first page.

Sick Leave and Vacation Pay

Although many people have the benefit of sick leave and vacation pay available to use, you should not be expected to suffer a loss or depletion of your benefit account because of the accident. Provide the pertinent pay stubs for reimbursement of the dollar amount used.

Potential Lost Income

In addition to your lost wages, you are also entitled to receive compensation for any bonus or a raise that you were denied due to the accident and its aftermath. For example, if you had an important business meeting that had to be canceled because of the accident, you may be able to show how much your income suffered as a result.

Don't pass up the opportunity to reclaim your lost wages; it's a valuable part of the total compensation package you could be entitled to as a result of your injury. Contact a personal injury attorney like Robert M Kaner Attorney as soon as possible and begin to put your life back together again with the compensation you need and deserve.