Recovering Lost Wages and Future Earnings After a North Carolina Personal Injury

At Dewey, Ramsay & Hunt, P.A., our Charlotte personal injury lawyers know getting hurt because of another person’s negligence can be a life-altering event, especially when it impacts your ability to work. Whether your injury temporarily prevents you from earning a living or results in long-term disability, recovering lost wages and future earnings is critical.

In North Carolina, personal injury victims can claim both past and future lost income. However, understanding how to calculate and prove these amounts is essential to building a successful case.

Why Recovering Lost Wages and Future Earnings After a North Carolina Personal Injury Accident is Critical

When you are injured due to someone else’s negligence, the financial impact can be overwhelming. Medical bills begin to pile up, and if you are unable to work, you may lose income, creating additional stress during an already difficult time.

By recovering lost wages, you can ensure you are compensated for the income you missed while recovering from your injuries. On the other hand, claiming future earnings helps protect you against the long-term financial consequences of a severe injury, especially if your ability to work has been permanently affected.

What Are Lost Wages?

Lost wages refer to the income you could not earn due to injury.

This includes:

• Hourly wages or salary: The most straightforward lost wages claim is for the time you could not work, whether full-time or part-time.
• Overtime pay: If you typically worked overtime, you can also claim the wages you missed out on due to your injury.
• Bonuses and commissions: For some workers, bonuses and commissions are a significant part of their earnings. You can claim compensation for any bonuses or commissions you lost because you could not work.
• Sick and vacation days: If you had to use sick days, vacation days, or other paid time off to cover your absence, you can include those in your lost wages claim.

How to Prove Lost Wages After a North Carolina Personal Injury Accident

To successfully recover lost wages, you must provide clear documentation showing the income you would have earned if you hadn’t been injured.

Essential documents to gather include:

• Pay stubs or direct deposit records: These help establish your typical earnings before the injury.
• Tax returns or W-2 forms: Provide further evidence of your annual income and any bonuses or commissions you typically earn.
• A letter from your employer: This should confirm the dates you were absent due to the injury, your salary or hourly wage, and any overtime, bonuses, or commissions you missed.
• Medical records: These show that your injury directly caused your inability to work and may also include information about how long your recovery will take or if you will face permanent restrictions.

What Are Future Earnings?

An injury may sometimes have long-term or permanent effects on your ability to work. If your injury results in a disability that prevents you from returning to your previous job or significantly limits your ability to earn a living, you may be entitled to compensation for future earnings, also known as lost earning capacity.

This can include:

• Permanent disability: If your injury prevents you from working or forces you to switch to a lower-paying job, you can claim future lost earnings.
• Reduced work capacity: Even if you can return to work, your injury may limit the number of hours you can work or the types of tasks you can perform, leading to reduced income.
• Career change: In some cases, an injury may force you to change careers or retrain for a new job, which could result in a temporary or permanent loss of income.

How to Prove Future Lost Earnings

Calculating future lost earnings can be more complicated than proving lost wages, as it requires a projection of how your injury will impact your ability to earn income over time.

Factors that are considered in these calculations include:

• Your age: Younger individuals typically have more future earnings to claim, as they would have more years left in their careers.
• Your occupation and salary: Your previous income and potential for career growth are critical factors in calculating future lost earnings.
• The severity of your injury: Medical records and expert testimony can show how your injury will affect your ability to work in the future.
• Life expectancy: For long-term disability claims, life expectancy may be considered to calculate how long you would have been expected to work if not for the injury.

In many cases, expert testimony from medical professionals, vocational experts, and economists may help to estimate future lost earnings. Our skilled Charlotte personal injury attorneys partner with these experts to evaluate the extent of our clients’ injuries, their ability to return to work, and how their earnings potential has been affected.

Failing to account for future lost earnings can leave you financially vulnerable, especially if your injury has permanent consequences. While it can be difficult to think long-term when recovering from an injury, ensuring that your future earnings are considered in your compensation is vital. This compensation can help you cover living expenses, medical care, and adapting to a new career or lifestyle. We can help.

Contact Our Trusted Personal Injury Attorneys in Charlotte, NC

If you were injured in an accident caused by negligence in North Carolina, our personal injury attorneys in Charlotte at Dewey, Ramsay & Hunt, P.A., want to hear your story during a free consultation by calling 704-377-3737 or contacting us online.

We provide unique legal services tailored to each client’s needs and do not get paid unless you do.

Your Injury, Our Fight. How can we help you take a stand?

Because every case is different, the description of awards and issues previously managed by our law firm does not guarantee a similar outcome in current or future cases.