Lost Wages Calculator — Calculate Lost Income from Your Injury

What Lost Wages You Can Recover

• Past lost wages: Income you already lost from missed work days, calculated from the date of injury to today
• Future lost earning capacity: Income you will lose due to permanent disability or reduced work capacity over your remaining working years
• Self-employment income: Lost profits for business owners and freelancers (requires tax returns and client documentation)
• Benefits and bonuses: Lost overtime, bonuses, vacation time, sick pay, and employer benefits like health insurance

How to Use This Tool — Step by Step

1. Enter your employment type: Hourly, salaried, self-employed, or gig worker. Each has a different calculation method.
2. Enter your pre-injury income: Your hourly rate, weekly salary, or average monthly income from the 3 months before your injury.
3. Enter your missed work time: The number of days or hours you missed due to your injury, including medical appointments.
4. Add future losses: If your injury causes permanent disability, enter your expected reduced earning capacity and remaining working years.
5. Review your total: The tool calculates your total lost wage claim including past losses, future losses, and lost benefits.

How to Document Lost Wages

1. Get a letter from your employer on company letterhead confirming your hourly rate or salary, your start date, and the specific days you missed
2. Gather pay stubs from the 3 months before your injury to establish your baseline income
3. For self-employment: tax returns (2–3 years), bank statements, client invoices, and contracts showing lost work
4. Get a doctor's note or medical records confirming you were unable to work during the recovery period
5. Document lost bonuses or overtime with prior year records showing what you typically earned

Why Lost Wages Claims Are Often Undervalued

Unrepresented claimants routinely undervalue their lost wages claims by failing to include future lost earning capacity, lost benefits, and lost self-employment income. Insurance adjusters exploit this by offering settlements that cover only past lost wages while ignoring permanent disability and reduced earning capacity. An experienced personal injury attorney uses vocational experts and economists to calculate the full present value of your lost earning capacity over your remaining working years — a figure that can be many times larger than your past lost wages alone. HellaHurt handles all personal injury cases on contingency — no fees unless we win. Call 888-693-5777 or start a free AI case check to get a full assessment of your lost wages claim.