Buffalo residents who suffer a personal injury frequently have alternative sources to pay for missed time from work, such as Workers’ Compensation payments or No-Fault automobile insurance benefits. This does not mean, however, that a person who misses substantial time from work as a result of a personal injury should not keep track of their missed time and lost wages.
First, some sources that pay lost wage benefits, such as Workers’ Compensation, may require repayment from the proceeds of a personal injury lawsuit for lost wages paid out by them. As a result, the injured party should claim these lost wages as part of the damages he or she is pursuing. Failure to do so may result in the plaintiff receiving less than full compensation if these other sources must be reimbursed.
Second, in the case of automobile accidents, the injured party is required to prove that he or she suffered a “serious injury” as defined under New York State law before damages may be recovered through a personal injury lawsuit. One category of “serious injury” defined in New York State law is a medically determined injury or impairment of a non-permanent nature which prevents the injured person from performing substantially all of the material acts which constitute such person’s usual and customary daily activities for not less than 90 of the 180 days following the occurrence of the injury or impairment.
While this definition clearly extends outside of merely being unable to work for at least 90 of the 180 days following an accident, being able to work more than 90 days during this time period would, in almost all cases, bar the plaintiff from recovering under this definition of serious injury. As a result, if you are missing substantial time from work because of a personal injury, you should make sure the time you are missing is documented.
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