What Compensation Can You Get for Lost Work Hours After an Accident?

When you’ve been hurt in an accident, it’s common to receive compensation for medical treatment and pain and suffering. However, if your injuries prevent you from working, you could also be entitled to reimbursement for lost wages. This not only includes your normal salary, but also any other financial compensation you regularly receive from your employer. This is true whether you’re a full-time or part-time employee, you earn an hourly wage or a salary or even if you’re self-employed.

Although not all accident victims may not receive lost wages, our Louisiana personal injury lawyers can ensure you the compensation you deserve.

Compensation for Lost Wages and More

Missing work while you’re recuperating from your injuries or seeking treatment means losing work hours, which translates to lost income. In a personal injury claim, lost income can include lost:

• Wages for any time you can’t work;any monies you’d normally receive from your employer for performing your job.
• Compensation for additional financial benefits over your regular wages; any additional financial perks you normally receive from your employment, such as sick and/or vacation time, bonuses, tips, etc. 
• Earning capacity for long-term disabilities; you not being able to earn the same amount of money you did prior to the accident.
• Lastly, opportunities for wage earning; include things like missing job interviews, because you’re recovering from your injury.

 Even if you don’t actually lose income during your convalescence because you use your sick leave and/or vacation time, you’re still losing pay. You should use your sick and vacation time as you choose. Using it up because of an accident equals losing actual pay.

Proving Lost Wages

To receive reimbursement, you must be able to prove the time missed from your job was due to the accident. You also need to show how much money you would have earned during this time. If your doctor orders you not to work for a specified amount of time, use his written medical report as the basis for your personal injury claim. If your doctor first decides you’re unable to return to work for only a short period of time, but later amends this to a longer time period, amend your claim to reflect the increased amount of lost income.

Depending on the outcome of your claim and the accident investigation, it takes anywhere from a few weeks to several months to receive your lost income.

Hire Top Louisiana Personal Injury Attorneys

Contact our top Louisiana personal injury attorneys for help guiding you through what could be a lengthy process to receive your lost wages. We’ll work hard to ensure you get as much as possible on your claim.  We offer free consults to all our clients and take no fee unless you win your case. We’re not afraid to go to trial for you. Our legal team understands your needs.

We also answer your calls 24/7 at (504) 345-1111, or contact us here today! Our office hours range from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.