Your accident changed a lot of things in your life. Even after the crash and any immediate hospitalizations, you may need to attend frequent doctors’ and physical therapy appointments. You may need to recuperate at home. You may spend hours or days trying to get your vehicle fixed, securing a rental car, or dealing with insurance companies.
All of these things can add up to a lot of missed workdays. Instead of taking time off to recover from an illness or take a vacation, you may use that paid time off (PTO) to recover from or take care of business related to the crash.
Who Pays for the PTO You Use After an Accident?
Some employees have a set number of sick days and vacation days. Alternatively, some employees have one bank of paid time off. Either way, you may miss time from work to attend medical appointments, recover from your injuries, or deal with the business of a car crash. If you qualify for PTO and have PTO days available, your employer will compensate you for your time off.
A car accident case won’t require your employer to add PTO days back to your calendar, even if the defendant or insurance companies pay for them. Your employer needs you present to do your job, and compensating you with additional time off could interfere with your ability to get your work done on time.
Instead, compensation for the paid time off that you had to use will be financial compensation. Even if you are a salaried employee, your hourly wage will be determined and you should receive money for every hour or day that you could not work because of the accident.
Your employer may choose to allow you to take additional unpaid time off after your PTO runs out if you are sick, have a family commitment, or have a planned vacation. The compensation that you receive for your PTO from your accident settlement or lawsuit may make it feasible for you to take unpaid time from work. If you do not take unpaid time off from work, the compensation for your PTO may help you pay your bills or do something enjoyable with your PTO when you’ve earned additional leave time.
PTO Is Just Part of Your Accident Recovery
Paid leave is an essential part of your accident damages, but it isn’t the only thing you deserve compensation for after a car crash, truck wreck, motorcycle accident, slip and fall or another type of accident. You deserve compensation for all of your personal injury damages, including past and future:
- Healthcare costs
- Lost income
- Out-of-pocket expenses
- Physical pain
- Emotional suffering
These damages may be essential to your recovery, but they won’t come to you automatically. Instead, you need to fight for them.
How a Personal Injury Lawyer Can Help You
If you had to use paid leave time after an accident, you deserve to be compensated for that loss and for all of your other accident damages. Your personal injury lawyer will make sure you have the documentation you need from your employer to convince the insurance company or court of the value of the leave you took.
Please contact us today to learn more about your rights. Our experienced personal injury attorneys would be happy to meet with you in any of our 11 Midwest offices, by video conference, or in your home or hospital room. We will discuss your rights, potential recovery, and our Win or It’s Free Guarantee during our meeting.
So far, Hupy and Abraham has helped more than 70,000 clients recover more than $1 billion in damages. Insurance companies know that we mean business and they are often willing to settle our clients’ claims because they know they face the uncertainty of litigation if they don’t make fair settlement offers.
Call us, start a live chat with us, or complete our contact form any time to schedule your free, no-obligation consultation.
|
Related Links: |
