A serious injury can affect your ability to work, and if you decide to pursue a legal claim for your injury, one issue your attorney will look at is your worklife expectancy after your injury. Worklife expectancy doesn’t just refer to the number of years you probably have left before retirement. Instead, it is a mathematical calculation based on a number of factors:
1) Life expectancy. How long a person may live may depend on a number of factors, including current and past health, and other issues.
2) Participation in the job market. This number refers to the probability that a person will be participating in the employment market. Some people, because of their past employment, education, jobs and other factors are more likely to be able to pursue a job after their injury.
3) Demographic. The demographic of a person can matter a great deal. For instance, some people may have longer non-earning periods in their work life because of their demographic. Women, for example, have statistically higher periods of non-earnings. Older workers, too, may eventually take longer breaks and have non-earning periods.
4) Employment. In many cases, worklife expectancy will consider how many years a person will be alive and in the labor market from the current time until they reach 75 years of age. However, the type of work they do may determine how likely they are to continue to work. Some jobs, for example, are more physically demanding. This can affect worklife expectancy, especially for older workers. Some jobs may allow a worker to continue working in some capacity, even after an injury. This, too, needs to be considered.
In some cases, it can be even harder to determine worklife expectancy. For example, self-employed people may have a wider range of income levels during their employment. Someone who is older may have fewer chances to go back to school to earn a new degree, or get a different job, when compared with a young person. In many cases, personal injury attorneys work with vocational experts and other professionals when trying to forecast what that worklife would have been had the injury not occured.
Why Is Worklife Expectancy So Important?
You may not be able to pursue employment after a serious injury like a brain injury or even a wrongful death. Your work opportunities may also be diminished or lower-paying. If this is the case and you pursue legal action, you may be able to seek compensation for your projected lost earnings after your injury. To do so though, your attorney will need to show a judge or jury what your lost earnings are likely to be. Calculating worklife expectancy helps courts calculate loss of wages when deciding on damages.
If you would like more information about compensation or legal action, or would like to know whether you qualify for a claim, contact G. Dallas Horton & Associates. Our legal team has handled more than 7000 cases, and G. Dallas Horton a reputation for being honest and caring with clients and aggressive in the courtroom. If you want legal advice and forceful protection of your rights, contact G. Dallas Horton & Associates today!
