How an Auto Accident Can Affect Your Work or Career

Auto accident injuries can affect various aspects of your life, including your work or career. Understand these effects so that you can get the liable party to compensate them. Below are some ways the effects might arise.

Time Off From Work

The more time you spend away from work, the more income you might lose. In addition to your regular income, you might also miss:

• Overtime pay
• Leave time
• Work benefits

How much time you spend away from work will depend on:

• The nature of your job
• The nature of your injuries
• The extent of your injuries
• The treatments you deserve

For example, you might spend a long time off work if you suffer a serious injury that requires surgery followed by an extended recovery time.

Effect on Ability and Capability

Auto accident injuries can affect your physical or cognitive abilities, which might interfere with your work. For example:

• A machine operator might struggle to do their job after losing their dominant arm
• A researcher might suffer if they develop impaired memory after an accident
• A teacher might struggle with their work if they lose their speech after an accident

The effect might be temporary or permanent. In some cases, you may recover fully and resume work. Something like an amputation, for example, can have a lifelong effect on your work.

Missed Opportunities

You might miss work opportunities due to your illness, whether you are self-employed or in salaried work. Say your employer needs a new supervisor, but you have a lengthy recovery ahead of you. The employer might not wait for you if doing so would lose them money. That means the position will go to another person.

If you are self-employed, you might have to cancel existing contracts if you can't deliver on time and renegotiation is impossible. You might not even know about a contract if you are in the hospital or bedridden for an extended period.

Anxiety

An auto accident can have both physical and mental effects — anxiety is one of these mental effects. A great problem arises if you develop anxiety for driving (or riding in a car) and you need to drive to perform your work.

Say you are a supervisor and must visit multiple remote job sites using your car. You may struggle to do your work if you develop post-traumatic stress disorder and cannot bear to get into any vehicle.

Loss of Use

Some people need their vehicles in their daily work. For example, a salesperson often needs their car to get around, and a plumber needs their van to carry tools and equipment. Such people might struggle to do their work if an auto accident damages their car. The more your car spends at the repair shop or in the garage, the more you might have to suffer a loss of its use.

Effect on Education

Many people use further education to boost their career prospects. Some people even work while studying by working in the day and attending school in the evenings. Unfortunately, an auto accident can affect your studies, creating an indirect effect on your work.

For example, cognitive abilities might affect your education. Physical pain can also keep you away from your studies. The effect on your studies might interfere with your ability to get a job promotion.

You need to prove each of these effects and quantify them to get the compensation you deserve. Existing contracts, pay stubs, medical bills, and expert testimony are some of the proofs you may use. Walsh & Associates, PC, can help you coordinate the evidence to help you settle or litigate your case. Contact us for a free initial consultation to determine the best way to proceed with your case.