Past Wage Loss and Reduced Earning Ability Need Different Proof
Lost earnings may be recoverable in a Detroit injury matter when the governing claim permits them and the evidence connects the work loss to the injury. Past missed pay, depleted leave, lost variable compensation, business interruption, and reduced future earning ability are not interchangeable. Each requires its own time period, baseline, calculation, and causal support.
Reconstruct the Earnings Baseline Before the Injury
Collect payroll records, tax forms and returns, schedules, timecards, commission histories, overtime patterns, bonuses, benefit records, contracts, and employer verification. A bodily injury claim should compare the injured period with a representative baseline rather than assume one paycheck captures normal earnings.
For hourly or salaried work, identify missed dates, regular rate, overtime eligibility, shift premiums, paid leave used, unpaid leave, and payments received from disability or other benefits. Record gross, withheld, replaced, and still-unpaid amounts in separate fields.
Adapt the Proof to Variable and Self-Employed Income
For commission, gig, seasonal, tipped, contract, or self-employed work, use invoices, deposits, booking records, client communications, business ledgers, prior-year patterns, canceled work, substitute-labor costs, and expenses that were saved or continued. Revenue decline is not automatically personal lost income.
An injury claim lawyer can help frame the accounting questions, but financial or vocational expertise may be necessary for disputed or projected losses. Explain other causes such as market changes, layoffs, illness, or business cycles instead of attributing every variance to the event.
Separate Past Loss From Future Capacity
Past loss uses an ended time period and records of what actually happened. Reduced earning capacity asks whether supported limitations affect the ability to earn later, considering medical restrictions, skills, education, occupation, labor-market options, accommodations, expected work life, and mitigation.
Maintain a source-linked spreadsheet showing each date, missing work event, medical support, employer confirmation, calculation, benefit offset question, and open assumption. Michigan fault and no-fault rules can affect the recoverable route and amount. A wage-loss model should be updated as work status changes and should never be presented as guaranteed compensation. Add a reconciliation column for disability benefits, sick pay, vacation used, employer continuation, replacement income, and amounts later repaid. Preserve the documents behind every adjustment so the same period is neither omitted nor counted twice inadvertently. At S&S Law, we help Detroit clients with lost income documentation.