The short answer is “yes”. In California, if you suffer injuries from slip/trip and fall type of accidents, and are unable to work because of the injuries suffered, you are allowed to recover compensation for both past and future lost wages, which includes the amounts of money you would have made by working overtime. However, keep in mind that the law imposes an obligation to prove your losses with “reasonable certainty”.
Lost wages are the earnings you would have made had you not been injured and been able to report to work. For example, if you suffer injuries in a slip/trip and fall accident, and your injuries prevent you from performing your job responsibilities for a period of time, you are entitled to be paid the amount of your wages for the entire time you miss from work.
Insurance companies are more likely to compensate you for the full amount of your time off from work provided you receive “Off Work” orders from your doctor. In other words, while you receive medical treatment, your doctor must periodically examine you and conclude that you are not able to return to work. The doctor must then provide you with a written order excusing you from work for a period of time. When your treatment is complete, your doctor will then either write an order allowing you to return to work or forbidding you from returning to your normal occupation.
Establishing a claim for lost earning can become extremely complicated especially in those cases where you are self-employed, or where you lose overtime pay, commissions, bonuses, pension benefits, 401k benefits, profit sharing benefits, health insurance benefits, and other economic losses. In these types of cases, the assistance of an economist is necessary to help calculate the amount of your losses, both past and future.
An experienced and highly skilled personal injury attorney will know precisely how to put your claim together and what experts to retain to help establish the complete amount of your losses.
