What to Do When You Cannot Work After a Car Accident

For many injured people, one of the first questions after a serious collision has nothing to do with a lawsuit.

 

How am I going to work?

Someone may have rent or a mortgage due. They may have children depending on them. They may be worried that their employer thinks they are unreliable. Some people return to work earlier than they want to because missing another paycheck simply is not realistic.

 

The employment side of an injury claim starts with understanding how the crash actually affected your work and income.

 

Start with what the medical professional actually said

Keep any written work restrictions, including documentation taking you completely off work. The records should accurately reflect which restrictions existed and when.

Whether someone is medically capable of working is a question for medical professionals. My role is to understand what the medical records say and then determine what actually happened at work.

 

Tell your employer what it needs to know

You do not necessarily need to give your employer every detail about the lawsuit or your symptoms.

But if you are missing work or need an accommodation supported by your medical professional, the employer may need appropriate documentation.

 

Keep copies of what you provide. That may include:

• work notes;
• written restrictions;
• dates missed;
• scheduling changes;
• leave paperwork;
• disability paperwork;
• correspondence concerning your inability to work.

Months later, that information can help establish what actually happened instead of forcing everyone to reconstruct it from memory.

 

Wage loss is not always just a missing paycheck

Suppose someone returns to work two weeks after a crash. It may look as though the employment issue is over. But what happened after that person returned?

• Did the employee go back to full duty?
• Were there lifting restrictions?
• Did coworkers have to perform tasks the employee normally handled?
• Did the employee lose overtime?
• Did the person stop accepting extra shifts?
• Did the person burn vacation or sick time because of appointments?
• Did the person eventually change jobs because certain physical demands became difficult?

Those are different factual situations. Returning to work does not automatically mean there was no economic impact. Your records should also show whether you returned to the same job, hours, and pay without restrictions.

 

Keep the payroll records

To document lost income, keep pay stubs, W-2s, attendance records, schedules, overtime history, and employer verification. Tax records may also be appropriate.

For a self-employed client, the analysis can become more complicated because income may not appear as neatly as an hourly employee's missed shifts. Those records help turn an estimate into a documented loss.

 

An estimate of $8,000 in missed income gives us a starting point. The records help show whether that amount is supported.

 

Describe how the injury affects your work

Your work history should be explained in context. Suppose you worked a full week after the crash but could not perform your usual duties.

You may have tried to return and struggled, worked modified duty, or needed the paycheck. Explain what you could do, what was difficult, and what help you needed.

 

Working through an injury and being unable to work are not the same thing.

 

If you are worried about losing your job

That is a real concern. Employment rights can involve laws and facts outside the personal injury case. If someone's job is being threatened because of an injury, leave, disability, or requested accommodation, there may be a separate employment-law question that requires advice from an attorney who handles that area.

 

For the injury case, document who said what and when, what restrictions existed, what work was missed, and what financial consequences followed.

 

The employment story often starts during the first week

Discuss how the crash affected your work early. By settlement negotiations, months of appointments, absences, restrictions, and employer conversations may have passed. If work has become part of the loss, documenting it as it develops helps us explain exactly how.

 

If a serious Illinois collision has affected your ability to work, Duran Law Offices can help evaluate how your medical documentation, employment history, and financial records support the injury claim.

 

Call 312-300-0473.

From our Chicago office, we represent seriously injured people across Illinois.