Lost Wages for Injured UPS Drivers

Lawyers Helping Delivery Drivers in Chicago

As a UPS driver, you could be injured while loading your truck, while taking a package to the door or while driving. Sometimes injuries sustained on the job are disabling such that, in addition to accruing medical bills, you lose days, weeks, or months from work. If you suffer a catastrophic injury, you may face permanent disability. Lost wages for injured UPS drivers may be recovered with the help of a Chicago workers’ compensation attorney.  At Katz, Friedman, Eisenstein, Johnson, Bareck & Bertuca, we handle both workers’ compensation claims and personal injury lawsuits and are able to follow all avenues for pursuing your lost wages.

Lost Wages for Injured UPS Drivers

The Illinois workers’ compensation system is a no-fault system through which you may be able to obtain a portion of your lost wages as disability benefits. Whether you’re entitled to temporary total disability benefits or permanent disability benefits, the calculation of your average weekly wage will be crucial. Temporary total disability benefits are calculated by looking at 2/3 of your average weekly wage. Permanent total disability benefits are calculated the same way. There are four ways used to determine permanent partial disability benefits, and two of these depend on your average weekly wage as well.

Different methods are used to calculate an injured UPS worker’s average weekly wage. Usually, your actual earnings with UPS over the last 52 weeks divided by 52 will determine your average weekly wage for purposes of determining the amount of your disability benefit. Bonuses or overtime won’t be included in most cases. If you missed work for five or more days in the 52 weeks before getting injured, however, your income would be divided by the number of weeks you actually did work minus the lost time. And if you worked for less than 52 weeks before getting injured, your earnings would be divided by the number of weeks, including fractions of weeks, during which you earned wages. If you worked only casually or briefly for UPS, the calculation will look at what another UPS driver in the same grade would have earned for each of the past 52 weeks working the same number of hours as you did.

Third Party Lawsuits

Often UPS drivers are injured in vehicle accidents. If you were seriously injured in an accident caused by another driver, you may be able to recover damages by bringing a personal injury lawsuit against the other driver. Usually, vehicle accident lawsuits are brought under a theory of negligence. These elements of negligence must be proven by a preponderance of the evidence: (1) you were owed a duty of reasonable care, (2) breach of the duty of reasonable care, (3) causation, and (4) damages. The other driver may claim that you were at fault for the accident. Under the doctrine of comparative negligence, your damages can be reduced by your percentage of fault. Illinois follows a modified form of comparative negligence whereby you can collect damages only so long as you are not more at fault than the defendant.

If you are able to establish that the other driver was liable, you may be able to recover compensatory damages, which are meant to place you back into the position you would have been in had you not been injured. Compensatory damages include economic losses like lost wages. In a personal injury lawsuit, unlike a workers’ compensation claim, you can recover your full lost wages, along with other related expenses like out-of-pocket costs and replacement services.

Consult a Seasoned Chicago Workers’ Compensation Attorney

It can be stressful to sustain on-the-job injuries as a UPS driver. You may be worried about how you’ll pay for medical care, food, shelter and other necessities if you’ve been rendered disabled by an accident. Lost wages for injured UPS drivers may be recovered through a workers’ compensation claim or a personal injury lawsuit, depending on the circumstances.  You should discuss your situation with us at Katz, Friedman, Eisenstein, Johnson, Bareck & Bertuca. We represent injured drivers 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.