MS Workers Compensation Accident or Work Injury, Sympathy Wages

by Jay Foster, Mississippi Workers' Compensation Lawyer

In Mississippi Workers' Compensation accident cases, there is a presumption that no loss of wage earning capacity has actually happened when the wages paid to the injured worker are the same or higher than before injury. Greenwood Utilities v. Williams, 801 So. 2d 783, 791 (Miss. 2001).

Of course, this presumption can be rebutted. Some factors to consider are the increase in general wage levels since the time of accident, the injured worker's own greater maturity and training, the longer hours worked by the injured worker after the work injury, payment of wages disproportionate to capacity out of sympathy to claimant, and the temporary and unpredictable characteristics of post-injury earning.

In other words, if your employer creates a job just for you or pays you because they like you this does not mean that you have no loss of wage earning capacity. This is what is known as sympathy wages.

If you have questions about this or any other Mississippi Workers' Compensation accident, please call or email attorney Jay Foster by clicking here.