When you think of lost wages after a car accident, you probably think of a missed paycheck. But what if you miss work and still get paid?
You might use vacation days or PTO, or have an arrangement with your employer that allows you to continue receiving your regular paycheck while you recover. Even if your paycheck stays the same, you may still have suffered a loss.
Paid time off is an employment benefit you earn through your time worked. When you use that time to recover from an injury, you lose the opportunity to use it for a vacation, personal time, or another purpose.
For example, say you miss a week of work after a car accident and use five vacation days to cover the time. You receive your full paycheck, but those five days are gone. You earned that time, and now you've lost the opportunity to use it for something else.
That loss may still be part of your personal injury claim. The same can apply to other paid leave or employment benefits you use while recovering. So even if your paycheck stays the same, don't assume you have no claim for lost wages. Tell your lawyer about any time you missed, even if your employer continued paying you.
Not Sure What Your Claim Is Worth?
The value of a car-accident claim is often more than a missed paycheck. Talk to Morrison & Hughes before you settle.
What If Your Injury Makes It Harder to Do Your Job?
Not every work-related loss shows up on a paycheck. You may return to work, continue earning the same salary, and still be unable to do your job the way you did before the accident. Maybe you can no longer lift heavy equipment, stand for long periods, or perform certain physical tasks. In some cases, an injury can even prevent you from returning to the career you built.
This is where diminished earning capacity can become important. Unlike traditional lost wages, diminished earning capacity focuses on how an injury affects your ability to work and earn in the future, even if you haven't lost a specific amount of income.
Consider a wildlife photographer who suffered a devastating ankle injury in a slip and fall. She and her husband ran a photography business and traveled around the world photographing wildlife. Her work had even been published in major nature publications. Photography wasn't simply her job; it was something she loved.
After several surgeries, she could no longer walk safely on uneven ground. She couldn't return to the field and photograph wildlife the way she had before. The business continued to operate, but she shifted to marketing and administrative work while someone else accompanied her husband on photography trips. In fact, the business ended up making more money.
But financially, that didn't tell the whole story. She had lost the ability to do the work she loved and built her career around. Her case shows why the financial impact of an injury can't always be measured by a paycheck. You can continue earning the same amount of money while an injury permanently changes what you're capable of doing.
Why Trial Experience Matters
A strong personal injury case isn't just about calculating damages. Your attorney needs to know how to identify the full impact of an injury, build the evidence to support it, and present that evidence in a way the insurance company will take seriously.
Losses like used vacation time or diminished earning capacity aren't always easy to put a number on. They require evidence showing what your life and career looked like before the injury, what changed afterward, and how those changes may affect you going forward. That's where experience matters.
The attorneys at Morrison & Hughes have experience on both sides of litigation. Before representing injured people, they spent years defending businesses and insurance companies. That experience gives them insight into how the “other side” evaluates claims, challenges damages, and decides what a case is worth.
This is why Morrison & Hughes prepares every case with trial in mind. That doesn't mean every case goes to court. Many personal injury cases settle before trial, but when an insurance company knows your attorney is prepared to present the evidence to a jury, it has more reason to take both the case and the potential damages seriously.
If you've been injured in a Georgia car accident, or another accident caused by someone else's negligence, Morrison & Hughes can help you understand what damages may be available in your case. Call 404-LAW-TEAM for a free and confidential consultation today.