Someone that has filed a personal injury claim deserves compensation for any medical expenses. In addition, that same claimant has the right to seek reimbursement for lost wages.
Providing proof of lost earning capacity
• Such proof necessary if an injured employee cannot work.
• Such a proof also required if an injured employee cannot seek a higher position, as expected.
• The employee’s inability to work could be caused by problems with chronic pain or lost stamina.
• Proof could take the form of a paycheck stub, or it could come from the documents supplied by the employer.
Someone that was self-employed could use one or more documents, such as examples of invoices from the same period in the previous year, tax forms, figures from a business bank account, or the bookkeeper’s records.
How to prove what might have been earned, assuming you were not injured?
Testimony from a financial or account expert could help with producing such proof. Experts are allowed to introduce elements of speculation. Their speculations are usually based on collected facts, along with experience.
The issue of what might have been earned does not need to be restricted to the injured employee’s wages. It could also require an examination of other sources of income. For instance, it could include a study of any commissions or bonuses that the worker might have earned. In addition, it could take into consideration any merit raises or salary increases that the same worker might have received.
Some companies have retirement accounts or 401k accounts for their employees. Each week that a given employee works, he or she gets more money added to that particular account. Personal Injury Lawyer in Mississauga know that an injury would keep an employed worker from having those funds added to his or her account. That would count as money that might have been earned.
Other factors studied during the consideration of an employee’s request for lost income.
What was the nature of that same employee’s work habits, before becoming injured? Did those habits include the sort of motivation that drives a worker to show up on time each day? What actions were taken by that individual within the workplace? Did he or she take a lot of breaks? Did he or she seem to welcome any excuse to cease working?
What level of education did that disabled or disfigured worker have? Does someone with that level of education normally rise to a higher position in the company, over time?
Had the same worker’s comments offered any hint, regarding his or her future intentions? Had anyone heard from that worker’s lips any mention of plans to make a career change? In the absence of any similar comments, the value of possible future earnings would increase.
