Lost Wages for Injured Amazon Flex Drivers

Chicago Lawyers for Delivery Workers

Amazon pays its drivers to deliver packages through its Amazon Flex program. If you were injured on the job as an Amazon Flex driver, you may lose wages and have concerns about how you’ll make them up. You may be able to recover a portion of your lost wages in the form of disability benefits through the workers’ compensation system. In certain circumstances, it’s possible to recover the full scope of lost wages by filing a third-party lawsuit. If you have questions about the Illinois workers’ compensation system, contact the Chicago workers’ compensation attorneys of Katz, Friedman, Eisenstein, Johnson, Bareck & Bertuca for a consultation to learn how we recover lost wages for injured Amazon Flex drivers. We handle both workers’ compensation and personal injury lawsuits.

Lost Wages for Injured Amazon Flex Drivers

If you lose wages as an Amazon Flex driver because you’re disabled by job-related injuries, you may be able to recover a portion of these lost wages in the form of workers’ compensation benefits. The workers’ compensation system is a no-fault system designed to make it easier to obtain compensation for injuries sustained on the job; you don’t need to prove your employer was at fault to recover benefits, nor can your employer get your compensation reduced by showing you were partially or fully to blame for your accident. However, in practice, it can be nearly as challenging to navigate the workers’ compensation system as it is to pursue damages in a lawsuit. It may seem difficult to figure out whether you are receiving the full disability benefits you’re owed for lost wages without the help of a lawyer.

There are a number of methods for calculating lost wages for injured Amazon Flex drivers. Ordinarily, workers’ compensation disability benefits are calculated according to your average weekly wage. Temporary total disability benefits, for example, are 2/3 of your average weekly wage, which is usually calculated by looking at a worker’s actual earnings during the 52 weeks before the date of the on-the-job injury, divided by 52. However, three other methods may also be used to calculate the average weekly wage. If you lose at least 5 calendar days of work during the 52 weeks before getting injured, your earnings won’t be divided by 52, but by the number of weeks and parts of weeks left after lost time is deducted. If your employment started in the 52-week period before the accident, your earnings would be divided by the number of those weeks and fractions of weeks during which actual wages were earned. If your employment as an Amazon Flex driver lasted such a short time or was so casual it would be impractical to use one of the three foregoing methods, your average weekly wage would be determined looking at the average weekly amount that would have been earned by another Amazon Flex driver of the same grade for those 52 weeks for the same number of hours per week.

Third Party Lawsuits

If you were working as an Amazon Flex driver and you were in a vehicle accident with a third party that caused you serious injuries, you may be able to bring a personal injury lawsuit against the third party to recover damages. In order to establish liability in most motor vehicle accident cases, you’ll need to prove it’s more likely than not you were owed a duty of reasonable care by the other driver, but the other driver failed to live up to her duty of reasonable care, thereby causing you injuries.

If you can establish liability in a lawsuit, you may be able to recover compensatory damages, which are meant to put you back in the position you would have been in had there been no accident. Compensatory damages include both economic and noneconomic losses. Economic losses include lost wages, along with medical expenses and out-of-pocket costs. Unlike with workers’ compensation benefits, you can obtain the full amount of your lost wages as damages.

Consult a Seasoned Attorney in Chicago

As an Amazon Flex driver injured on the job in Chicago, you may be able to recover lost wages by filing a workers’ compensation claim. In some cases, it may be appropriate to also pursue a personal injury lawsuit. You should talk to the experienced lawyers of Katz, Friedman, Eisenstein, Johnson, Bareck & Bertuca. We handle claims and lawsuits in Quincy, Rockford, Aurora, and Champaign, along with Cook, Adams, Winnebago, Kane, and Sangamon Counties. Call us at 312-724-5846 or complete our online form.