Car crashes, slip-and-falls and a host of other incidents can leave people with significant injuries. The longer that symptoms persist, the greater the financial impact of the injuries.
People with catastrophic injuries may experience lifetime financial setbacks and permanent medical consequences. They then need to file an insurance claim or possibly a lawsuit to obtain compensation for those losses. Lost wages or reduced earning potential can be one of the biggest contributing elements to an insurance claim or lawsuit.
How can injured people calculate their lost income or reduced earning potential when seeking compensation?
Look at the big picture
The main mistake individuals make when trying to calculate lost wages is that they base their figures on their current income. However, most people don’t remain stagnant regarding their positions or their pay for the entirety of their careers.
Companies offer advancement opportunities and cost-of-living wage increases. Workers may move into new professions or into management at the company after they have adequate experience. It may be necessary to look at documentation exploring career development within a particular sector to estimate how someone’s position and wages might change over the course of their career.
In some cases, injured parties may need to seek the totality of their wages because they cannot work at all. Other times, they may need to seek the difference between the competitive wages they could have earned and the baseline wages they can acquire after their injury limits their functional abilities.
The big picture also needs to consider perks and benefits provided by a career. Employee benefits including paid leave and different types of insurance coverage can have a value of around a third of a worker’s base salary in many cases. Some companies may offer other benefits that can be quite valuable, such as stock options or retention bonuses when they stay with the company for a certain number of years.
Individuals who are already coping with the medical consequences of an injury may have a hard time doing the research and calculations required to make a reasonable compensation claim. Many times, professional assistance is necessary to accurately estimate the economic impact of a catastrophic injury. Having support when estimating losses and negotiating for compensation can help people reduce the economic harm caused by an injury.