With personal injury claims you can recover compensation for General Damages for the pain and suffering and you can also recover Special Damages for any losses incurred as a result of the accident.
An example of Special Damage is loss of earnings.
Say for example you sustain injury, whether it be at work or in a road traffic accident, and as a result of your injuries you may have to take time off work and subsequently you may have lost earnings. As part of a Special Damages claim you can try and recover the lost earnings. As with most aspects of Special Damages you should obtain wage slips as you’ll have to prove those earnings lost due to your injury.
Every loss of earnings claim is likely to be diffirent as people work in different capacities. Some people are self employed, some people are contractors and other people are employees. Each employee would have a contract of employment. Some employees may be entitled to full pay if they are off sick. Other employees may not get paid when they are off sick. This would depend on the actual contract of employment which the worker entered into. If you do not get paid by your employer when you are off sick, you may be entitled to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) which kicks in after a couple of days absence.
The problem with SSP is that it is low pay in comparison with most people’s usual wages. Even if you have been paid in full for the period of your absence, you may have lost out on overtime pay for example. If you have lost out on overtime pay you could try and recover these sums, however, it is likely that proof of the loss is required (i.e. past wage slips).
The onus is on you as the Claimant to prove that you have lost earnings as a result of the accident/injury. The importance of documentary evidence cannot be overstated. Make sure you keep any wage slips or letters to prove your losses.
It is only right that you can claim for loss of earnings, if you were unfortunate enough to sustain injury and it was not your fault. If you cannot work as a result, you are entitled to recover lost earnings.
If you are off work for a month for example, it may be quite simple to calculate just how much income or earnings you lost. The difficulty often arises when a person is unlikely to be able to work again due to the severity of the injuries. Obviously in this scenario we are talking about very serious injuries. Medical evidence would also be required as experts would have to give an opinion on a person’s ability to work. If you are not able to work again then a sum could be calculated up to the expected retirement age. With serious injuries loss of earnings can amount to hundreds of thousands of pounds. It really all depends on the individual circumstances of the case.
Do not hesitate to contact The Injury Lawyers to discuss a potential claim today.
