If you are injured and can no longer work in a regular capacity, you will not be able to bring in as much money as you were prior to your injury. To help offset this lost income, Minnesota offers wage loss benefits to injured parties. It may be obvious that your paycheck is smaller in the wake of an accident, but how can you prove exactly how much you should be owed in wage loss benefits? In today’s blog, we take a closer look at three types of evidence that can help prove how much you’re entitled to receive in wage loss benefits.
Determining Wage Loss Amount
In order to determine how much you are owed in wage loss benefits, you’ll need to establish two factors:
- That you are employed and earning a paycheck
- That you are no longer able to collect your normal amount because of your injuries
In regards to the second point, there can be a number of reasons as to why you are no longer earning the same amount as you were prior to the injury. Your hours may have been reduced, you may have been reassigned to a different position with less pay, or you may no longer be able to work standard overtime. It doesn’t matter why you can no longer earn as much as you did prior to your injury, so long as your injury is the reason for this lost income.
To prove lost income exists and to determine how much you’re entitled to, lawyers typically turn to one of these three types of evidence to support your claims:
1. Paystubs – If you still receive a paystub, be it electronic or paper, it will go a long way in helping to establish a pay deficit after an injury. Collect a couple paychecks before and after your injury and give them to your lawyer. The more pay stubs, the better, especially if the amount is not the same on each paycheck.
2. Employer Wage Records – If you don’t have access to your paystubs, you can ask your employer for any financial details they have on record. Odds are they have a record of your hours worked and gross or net pay amounts. Some businesses have very detailed records of this information, while others aren’t the most thorough. Sometimes the information your employer provides is helpful, while other times it still leaves your lawyer with unanswered questions.
3. Tax Documents – Tax documents can also be very helpful in establishing how much you made prior to the injury. We can look at your yearly income and divide that by months or weeks to determine how much you were earning in a given period. We can then compare that to what you’re earning now to determine the discrepancy between the two.
All of these documents will help your personal injury lawyer come up with a fair and accurate amount to ask for when filing for wage loss benefits. We can also use this information to determine things like overtime and potential future earnings, so don’t assume it’s easy to come up with an accurate figure on your own. Trust your case to a personal injury firm like Hey Workers and know that you are getting everything you’re entitled to receive. For more information, or for help with your injury case, give our team a call today at (844) 439-9675.
