If you find yourself unable to work due to a car accident, a New York car accident lawyer may be able to help you recover lost wages in addition to any compensation you are awarded due to your injuries or damaged property. These lost wages include both wages you have already lost while recovering from your injury, and any wages you will lose in the future due to continuing impairment caused by your injury.
You are entitled to certain damages due to your having to take time off work. This includes any pay you’ve lost due to your absence from work, any pay deducted because of sick leave taken due to your accident, and work you will have to make up in the future for your employer.
In addition, you are entitled to certain damages caused by any future impairment due to your injury. You are entitled to these damages if your injury forces you to take a lower-paying job, if your injury will bar you advancing at your workplace, or if your injury will prevent you from receiving overtime or bonuses you would have otherwise earned.
Future lost wages play an especially significant role in cases involving accidents that result in permanent disability, because future lost wages may far exceed any wages lost during recovery.
You may face major difficulties in recovering lost wages if you are self-employed. In such a case, the exact amount of earnings you were deprived of during your recovery can be very difficult to prove. Future wage loss presents an even greater difficulty. Often, income tax records provide the only means available to your New York car accident attorney to prove how much you have lost and will continue to lose due to your injury.
Even then, complications may arise. For example, a disabled person who is self-employed may (e.g. because of an improvement of economic conditions) actually earn more than he did before his accident, but less than he would have made if he were uninjured. In such cases, your New York car accident attorney may need to find an expert witness to verify damages, especially if the judge and attorneys are unfamiliar with the industry.
If you were in a car accident and are worried that you may not be receiving the full amount of lost wages you are entitled to, call the New York car accident lawyers at Gersowitz, Libo & Korek today for a free consultation.
