Before settling your ICBC claim, you need to consider the amount of your past wage loss claim. The gross loss of wages you suffer is not the amount of compensation you will receive through ICBC.
To start with, ICBC is entitled to pay you the net amount of your wage loss after factoring in your tax obligations as well as your Employment Insurance premiums.
The next question is whether or not you received any TTD disability benefits from ICBC. If you did, they can be deducted from any wage loss claim.
The next question is whether or not ICBC can deduct disability benefits/ sick day benefits received from such places as Employment Insurance, an employer or an insurance company. Contrary to what ICBC may tell you, these benefits are generally not deductible from the past wage loss claim. Please review the article “Non-ICBC Disability Benefits and your ICBC Claim” on disability benefits in this book.
The next issue ICBC may raise is that you were off work longer than you should have been. If this is the defense raised by ICBC, you are probably facing the need to hire your own lawyer to pursue the past wage loss claim.
If you are like some people who have a certain element of unreported income (i.e. cash) available to you but you lost the opportunity as a result of the injuries suffered in the accident, the law is clear that so long as you can prove the amount of the loss you are still entitled to it even though it did not form part of your tax return. Therefore, do not allow ICBC to ignore this part of your past wage loss claim especially if you have clear proof that you lost the opportunity after the accident to receive this unreported income.
Any promotions or pay raises that you would have received, but for the accident, also should be factored into the past wage loss claim.
