Who Pays Lost Wages After a Job-Related Car Crash

Attorney Answer

Your employer generally does not owe you wages for hours you did not work — but that is not the end of the answer. A crash that happens while you are doing your job is normally a workers' compensation injury, and wage replacement for a work injury comes through the compensation system rather than through payroll. Separately, because another driver caused the crash, you can pursue that driver for the income you lost.

Start with why the claim runs through workers' compensation rather than against the company directly. Cal. Lab. Code § 3602(a) makes workers' compensation the employee's sole and exclusive remedy against the employer where the conditions of compensation apply, subject to narrow statutory exceptions. That is the reason the route for a work injury is a claim in the compensation system. The benefits that system pays for lost time — temporary disability, and the waiting period and percentage that go with it — are set by rules with their own detail, so confirm what applies with the claims administrator or a workers' compensation attorney rather than relying on any general description.

Exclusivity protects the employer. It does not protect the driver who hit you. A third party who causes the crash sits outside Cal. Lab. Code § 3602(a) altogether, and against that driver the measure of damages is the one in Cal. Civ. Code § 3333: for the breach of an obligation not arising from contract, "the amount which will compensate for all the detriment proximately caused thereby, whether it could have been anticipated or not." Lost income is detriment. So the hours and days you lost are recoverable from the at-fault driver even though your employer does not owe them as wages.

One more provision is worth asking about. Cal. Lab. Code § 2802(a) requires an employer to indemnify an employee for necessary expenditures or losses incurred in direct consequence of the discharge of the employee's duties. It is most often used for out-of-pocket costs rather than lost hours, and whether it reaches your situation is a question for a lawyer. Be aware, too, that where workers' compensation pays benefits and you also recover from the at-fault driver, the compensation carrier generally has a right to be reimbursed out of that recovery — the coordination rules are worth asking about early, because they affect what you actually keep.

What you can do

1. Report the crash to your employer in writing as a work injury if you have not already, and ask for a workers' compensation claim form.

2. File the claim form with your employer or their claims administrator. Filing with the workers' compensation system is something you can do yourself.

3. Keep the pay records that show the hours and days lost, along with all medical records and any written work restrictions. Those documents are what prove the loss.

4. Report the collision to your own auto insurer and give them the other driver's information.

5. Ask a local attorney about pursuing the at-fault driver for lost income, and about how a compensation claim and that claim interact before either is settled.

Most lawyers offer a brief initial call at no cost, and a few minutes on your specific facts with someone who practices in your area is worth more than any general guidance, including this page.

⏱ Time limits apply. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1 generally allows two years for a claim for injury or death against the at-fault driver. The workers' compensation system runs on its own, different deadlines, and they are not the same as the two-year period — do not assume that meeting one protects the other. Have a local attorney review both sets of dates against your actual facts.