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How Are Lost Wages Calculated for Commissioned Employees with Partial Permanent Disabilities?

Most salespeople are solely reliant upon a one-hundred percent commissioned salary to feed, shelter and care for their families. These road-warriors and overachievers pound the boulevards and straightaways of America every day to deliver services to their clients and expand partnerships. Del Lisk, Vice President of safety services at Lytx Inc. believes it is a common misperception that long-haul truck drivers are at greater risk for an accident than a salesperson driving a mid-size car. He addresses driving safety issues with employees giving them tips and tools to aid them while they’re on the road. These include training, safety policy manuals, and mobile video recording technology, a telematic resource once used primarily in the trucking industry to determine if drivers were practicing the techniques taught to them in safety classes. Risk companies and workers compensation managers are using the data from telematic systems to forecast predictable behaviors when merged with worker’s compensation claims and medical data.

By their very nature, sales men and women are naturally equipped with a driving force to meet and exceed their prior annual wages. But when earnings are not fixed, how does a lawyer, like one of the Auto Accident Lawyers Indianapolis, IN residents trust, predict a respectable number for the demand of the loss of future wages for a partially-disabled commissioned employee?

Tools employed by a tractor-trailer accident lawyer to estimate a loss of future earnings

A semi-tractor collision lawyer making a wage loss claim for the commissioned employee may use any of the following tools to arrive at a fair number:

  1. Loss of past wage information
    1. State and federal tax returns provide a complete income history of the client/employee.
  2. Loss of future wage information  
    From state and federal tax returns, the economist may forecast a trends analysis, i.e. an upward or declining trend in earning capacity. Are the client’s wages increasing as they should for someone in their age bracket? -or- Has their earning capacity topped-out or become stagnant?
  3. Inflationary Tables bring the projected cost of living into the equation.
  4. Mortality Tables estimate the employee’s life cycle.

When all of this information is analyzed, an economist can predict the number of years the client will live with their disability, the amount of future income lost, the recommended amount of monthly income required to maintain their standard of living, and if an investment strategy would be advised. Prior year tax returns are the foundation of the loss of projected earnings claim asserted by your tractor-trailer accident lawyer for the fully commissioned employee. When all of the figures are calculated, merged, and approved by both you and your lawyer, the economist’s report will be submitted into evidence as an exhibit in your claim for damages.

 


 

Thanks to our friends and contributors from Ward & Ward for their insight into truck accident cases.