Illinois job accidents: Working a cash job is a risk.
We get calls all the time from bartenders, waiters, skycaps and others that work jobs where they make a lot of money off of tips. None of them report everything they are making to the Government for taxes. Because of the amount of money that skycaps make, we can't even get our clients to tell us how much they are truly getting in tips. It's like a secret code that they don't want to let out.
We could care less about IRS issues. Our concern is representing our clients in work injuries. Generally speaking, the more money that you earn the more that your injury is worth. Someone who has a torn meniscus from an Illinois job accident who makes $1,000 a week will get a much larger settlement than someone with the exact same injury who makes $400 a week.
When determining how much someone makes we calculate what is called the average weekly wage. This looks at the last 52 weeks worked for your employer (or in some cases more than one employer) and we determine your average weekly pre-tax earnings. This is easy when someone is salaried, not always easy if you are an hourly worker that gets overtime, someone who gets commissions or a person whose hours change every week.
In determining what someones average wage is, we look at reported earnings. Tips that don't get reported aren't included. Now some insurance companies will take our word for it when we tell them what you really earned, but some just go off what the employer says. This is not a good issue to litigate because you might be forced to testify under oath that you have cheated on your taxes.
For injured workers who have been paid cash "under the table" the same problem exists, although many Arbitrators like to punish employers that do this rather than punish the injured worker.
We are workers' compensation attorneys that help people with Illinois work injuries anywhere in IL via our statewide network of attorneys. Contact us and we will answer your questions or find the right lawyer for your situation.
