MS Workers Compensation Accidents or Injuries - Employer Pays Sympathy Wages

by Jay Foster, Mississippi Worker's Compensation Lawyer

The presumption that no loss of wage earning capacity has occurred applies when actual wages after the injury are the same or higher than before injury. Spann v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 700 So.2d 308, 313 (Miss.1997). As most presumptions, it may be rebutted. A non-exclusive list of considerations is this: "increase in general wage levels since the time of accident, claimant's own greater maturity and training, longer hours worked by the claimant after the accident, payment of wages disproportionate to capacity out of sympathy to claimant, and the temporary and unpredictable characteristics of post-injury earning." Id.

If you have questions about this or any other Mississippi Worker's Compensation injury, please call or email Jay Foster.