People are often worried about returning to work when they’re suffering from whiplash. It normally comes down to one of three things:
- You’re worried you can’t work because of the pain and will lose out on earnings.
- You’re worried that you can work, but the pain will be uncomfortable.
- You’re worried about not being able to claim because you are able to work.
In law, you have a duty to mitigate your loss. You also have a duty to follow medical advice to make sure you don’t worsen your symptoms. So it’s best to seek medical advice and find out whether your doctor feels you are able to work or not. If not, then you should probably follow their advice and stay away from work. Any earnings you lose out on can be recovered as part of the claim in most circumstances.
If you can work, or you’re in the category of people who must work to make ends meet, then you can still make a claim. The other side isn’t necessarily going to raise the argument that you can’t be in any pain because you are able to work. Whiplash didn’t stop me from working, and they haven’t raised it with me. Yes, I was in pain; but it wasn’t pain enough to warrant loads of time off work and then claiming lost earnings fees from the other side. If you can work, and you’re medically fit to do so, you shouldn’t worry about it affecting the claim.
Obviously if you were claiming that you couldn’t work but the symptoms were not as bad as you were making them out to be (not that anyone would lie of course!) then it could affect the claim. Recoverability of earnings comes down to whether the medical expert believes any time off from work was reasonable given the injuries sustained.
Don’t be put off by claiming because you’re still able to work – give us a call and we can guide you through the process, and make sure you are still compensated for the pain and suffering you have endured.
