Experiencing an accident and suffering injuries can cause substantial difficulties in your life, including a long road to recovery and excessive financial burdens. Additionally, you may need to take some time off from work as you heal, which can add to your financial woes.
If you’re injured in an accident, discuss your case with a personal injury attorney right away. A lawyer can help you navigate every aspect of your claim, including pursuing damages, such as lost earnings.
What Are Lost Wage Damages?
As the name indicates, lost wage compensation is part of your compensatory damages, as they help compensate you for the wages you’ve lost due to your accident and injuries.
Examples of cases where victims can recover for lost wages include:
- Vehicular accidents, including car, truck, and motorcycle collisions
- Premises liability incidents, like slips and falls
- Work accidents
- Medical malpractice cases
- Defective product accidents
Lost wages encompass all types of earnings you would have been entitled to receive had you not suffered an injury that required time off.
These include but are not limited to:
- Hourly wages or salary
- Commissions
- Overtime pay
- Bonuses
- Tips
Additionally, your injuries could be so severe that you are no longer able to work in the same capacity as before or at all. In that case, you may also have the opportunity to pursue damages for diminished or lost earning potential.
Evidence Used To Prove Lost Wages
In order to recover your monetary and non-monetary losses, you’ll need to provide sufficient proof.
Some of the evidence often used to prove lost earnings includes:
- Pay stubs
- Letters from employers detailing missed days from work
- Tax returns
- Financial statements
- Medical documentation showing your inability to work
Collecting evidence can be challenging, and you want to make sure you have the right type of documentation to successfully prove your losses. Your personal injury attorney can determine the kind of evidence that would be the most useful and help obtain pertinent documentation to strengthen your case.
Calculating Lost Wages in Texas
Calculating your damages is critical for ensuring you receive full and fair compensation for your injuries and losses. Determining how much you’re owed in lost wages generally depends on your type of work and pay schedule.
If you’re paid hourly, you would calculate the total number of work hours you lost times your hourly wage. For salaried workers, you would multiply your salary by the number of missed work days.
Calculating lost wages for employees with variable incomes can require time and effort. The process usually involves taking an average of earnings over a certain pre-accident period.
Should you suffer from a more permanent incapacity, you might be entitled to recover for diminished or lost earning potential. In such instances, the calculations would be a bit different.
Certain factors would play a substantial role in determining the value of these damages, including your:
- Age
- Current position
- Career prospects
- Past earnings and work performance
Calculating damages for diminished earning capacity would also require additional evidence, such as expert testimony.
How an Experienced Houston Attorney Can Assist With Recovering Lost Wages
Calculating your lost wage damages and determining how much your case is worth can be particularly complicated. Fortunately, when you have a Houston personal injury attorney on your case, you don’t have to worry about taking on the difficult task yourself. After suffering an injury at the hands of another, you have limited time to take legal action to seek damages. Therefore, it’s best to consult a personal injury attorney right away. You can rely on your lawyer to handle all critical case-related tasks, including assigning a monetary value to your case and pursuing fair compensation on your behalf.
Contact the Undefeated Houston Personal Injury Lawyers from Zehl & Associates Injury & Accident Lawyers for Help Today
For more information, please contact our Undefeated Personal Injury attorneys in Texas at Zehl & Associates Injury & Accident Lawyers to schedule a free consultation today.
We proudly serve Harris County, Midland County, and throughout the state of Texas:
Zehl & Associates Injury & Accident Lawyers – Houston
2700 Post Oak Blvd #1000, Houston, TX 77056
(888) 603-3636
Open 24 hours
Zehl & Associates Injury & Accident Lawyers – Midland
306 W Wall St Suite 701, Midland, TX 79701
(432) 220-0000
Open 24 hours