Recovering Lost Wages After a Utah Accident

Short answer: After a Utah car crash, your own PIP coverage pays part of your lost income first: the lesser of $250 a week or 85% of lost gross income, for up to 52 weeks. Pay above that, and income you lose in the future, can be claimed from the at-fault party, along with lost earning capacity if the injury limits the work you can do. Either way, the claim is only as good as the paperwork behind it.

Missing work after an injury hurts twice: the pain, and then the paycheck that does not come. Rent and car payments do not wait for a settlement. Here is how lost income is paid and proven in Utah, and what to start gathering now.

Step One: The PIP Wage Benefit

Every Utah auto policy that meets the state’s insurance requirement includes personal injury protection, and PIP includes an income benefit. Under Utah Code 31A-22-307(1)(b), the minimum is:

• the lesser of $250 per week or 85% of lost gross income and lost earning capacity from inability to work;
• for a maximum of 52 consecutive weeks after the loss;
• with no payment required for the first three days of disability, unless the disability lasts longer than two consecutive weeks after the injury.

PIP also pays up to $20 a day, for up to 365 days, for household services you would have done yourself but could not, such as yard work or cleaning you had to pay someone else to do. Your policy may carry higher limits than the minimum, so check the declarations page.

PIP pays as losses come in. Benefits are overdue if the insurer does not pay within 30 days after it receives reasonable proof of the loss, and overdue amounts carry interest of 1.5% per month (Utah Code 31A-22-309(5)). Reasonable proof is the key phrase: a wage verification from your employer and a doctor’s note taking you off work are what start the payments.

One catch: if you were hurt while working and workers’ compensation pays you, PIP benefits are reduced by those workers’ compensation benefits (31A-22-309(3)).

For the rest of the no-fault system, see Is Utah a No-Fault State? How PIP Works After a Crash.

Step Two: The Claim Against the At-Fault Party

PIP is capped. If your gross pay is more than about $294 a week, the $250 limit applies, and the benefit ends at 52 weeks. The difference is part of your claim against the person who caused the crash, together with any income PIP never touched.

In a Utah trial, lost income is part of economic damages. The model jury instruction says economic damages include past and future lost earnings, including lost benefits. Past lost earnings run from the date of the harm to trial; future lost earnings run from trial forward (MUJI 2d CV2006). Lost benefits can include things like employer retirement contributions or health coverage that stopped while you were off work.

Future losses are adjusted to present cash value, because money paid now can be invested (MUJI 2d CV2021). And Utah law lets an injured person claim interest on special damages actually incurred, subject to the conditions in Utah Code 78B-5-824.

Unlike pain and suffering, lost wages from a car crash do not depend on clearing Utah’s no-fault threshold. The threshold in 31A-22-309(1) limits claims for general damages; lost income is an economic loss.

Lost Wages vs. Lost Earning Capacity

These are two different things, and the difference matters most in serious injuries.

• Lost wages are income you actually missed: the shifts, salary, overtime and commissions you would have earned.
• Lost earning capacity is the loss of your potential to earn. A carpenter who can no longer do physical work, or a student whose career plans change because of an injury, may have a capacity claim even without a long wage history.

Utah’s model instruction tells jurors to consider the person’s actual earnings, work before and after the injury, what the person could have earned had they not been injured, and any other facts about their employment (MUJI 2d CV2006). The committee notes say the instruction should be given only when there is evidence to support the loss. In practice, that evidence usually comes from treating doctors who describe permanent restrictions, and sometimes from vocational or economic experts who translate those restrictions into dollars.

If You Are Self-Employed

Self-employed people, gig workers and business owners can recover lost income too, but the proof takes more work. There is no employer to fill out a wage form. What usually helps:

• federal tax returns for several years before the injury, including Schedule C or business returns;
• 1099s, invoices and bank deposits showing regular income;
• calendars, bookings or contracts that were canceled or turned down after the injury;
• messages from clients about work you could not take;
• the cost of hiring someone to cover work you normally do yourself.

Insurers will focus on profit, not gross sales, and on whether a slow month was caused by the injury or by the business itself. Clean records made before the injury are the best answer to that.

Documentation to Gather Now

Whether you are salaried, hourly or self-employed, start a folder:

1. Pay stubs from before the injury and after you returned.
2. A letter from your employer confirming your pay rate, usual hours and dates missed.
3. Every work note or restriction from your doctors.
4. Records of time off for appointments, therapy and surgery.
5. Records of paid time off or sick leave you used because of the injury.
6. W-2s and tax returns for recent years.
7. Any record of a lost promotion, raise, bonus or job offer.

Keep copies of what you send the PIP insurer. The same records support the larger claim later. For the rest of what to preserve, see What Evidence Helps a Car Accident Case in Utah?

Mistakes That Undercut a Wage Claim

• Returning to work against medical advice, then stopping again. Follow your doctor’s restrictions and ask for them in writing.
• Missing work without a doctor’s note. Time off that no provider supported is hard to recover.
• Leaving out overtime, tips or side income. If it was regular and documented, it belongs in the claim.
• Settling before the future is clear. If you may not return to the same job, that needs to be known before any release is signed. See Should You Accept the Insurance Company’s First Offer?

Talk to a Utah Personal Injury Attorney

If an injury is keeping you from work, we can help get PIP wage benefits moving and document the full loss for the claim against the at-fault party. You pay nothing up front, and no attorney fees unless we win.

Hurt in Utah? Call (801) 921-5134 or send us your case for a free consultation. No attorney fees unless we win. Hablamos Español.