Determining Lost Wages in a Car Accident Claim

If you’ve been in a car accident, you may be dealing with a lot of stress, confusion, and financial anxiety. One of the many things you may be worried about is how to determine your lost wages. Before you can negotiate for fair and full compensation after a Biloxi car accident, you have to know what your claim is worth.

We can help you properly assess your claim and demand fair compensation. Set up a consultation with the personal injury team at Gardner Law Group now by calling us at 228-436-6555.

What Are Lost Wages?

Consider the income you earn on a day-to-day basis. Now, if you’re hurt in a car accident and can’t make it to work, you’re not getting paid as usual. This missed income, the money you would’ve earned if you hadn’t been injured, is what we call lost wages. Whether it’s your regular salary, hourly pay, tips, or any other cash you bring home from your job, all of it counts. This is often a sizable part of personal injury claims because people can lose out on entire weeks or even months of income because of another person’s negligence.

Gathering Necessary Documentation

To accurately figure out your lost wages after a car accident, it’s essential to collect the right paperwork. Start by securing copies of any documents that prove how much money you usually make. This could be recent paychecks for those with regular jobs, or it might involve pulling together bank statements and invoices for people who are self-employed. Don’t forget to include records that show the days you were unable to work because of your injuries. This may include paperwork from your boss showing that you were sent home or excused from work, or even put on light duty and forced to take fewer hours.

Calculating Lost Wages for Salaried or Hourly Employees

Calculating lost wages is pretty straightforward if you’re a salaried or hourly employee. Let’s break it down into simple steps. For those who receive a salary, the process involves a bit of division. You’ll take your annual salary and divide it by the number of workdays in that year. This gives you your daily earnings. To find out how much you’ve lost, multiply this daily rate by the number of workdays you missed because of the accident.

For hourly employees, the calculation is slightly different but just as doable. Start with your hourly wage. Then, think about how many hours you typically work in a day. Multiply your hourly wage by the usual number of work hours to find your daily earnings. The final step is to multiply this amount by the number of days you couldn’t work due to your injuries. This may be a little bit more complicated in some fields—for example, retail—where you don’t work a set eight-hour day every time you work, and in that situation, you may need to calculate averages.

Special Considerations for Self-Employed Individuals

Calculating lost wages is a bit more of a challenge, as you don’t have a set salary or hourly rate to use. But you can still accurately determine your lost income with some diligence. First off, dig into your business records. Look at the income you reported on your tax returns for the past year or the months leading up to the accident. This gives you a baseline for what you typically earn.

Next, consider the current contracts or gigs you had lined up. How much were you expecting to earn from these? It’s crucial to account for these potential earnings, as they represent the work you couldn’t complete due to your injuries. Also, think about any opportunities you had to decline because of the accident. As far as current projects, don’t forget to include any costs associated with reassigning projects to other contractors, as that is money coming out of your own pocket to preserve your professional reputation.

Gathering evidence is key. This could include emails about work you had to turn down, invoices for jobs you completed before the accident, and any correspondence with clients about canceling or postponing work. All these pieces help paint a picture of the income you lost.

Explore Your Legal Options With Gardner Law Group

Getting what you are owed after a car accident means considering everything you’ve lost—and then proving it. We can help. Set up a consultation with our team now by calling our Biloxi team at 228-436-6555, calling our Pascagoula office at 228-762-6555, or contacting us online.