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Some Housekeeping Issues if You're Injured

Many people are unaware that their injury claim can include compensation for expenses relating to housekeeping duties. In advancing this part of your claim you need to be aware of who to claim against, what services are taken into account and how to go about calculating your loss.

The claim for housekeeping services can be made against your own insurer prior to resolving your claim, or against the 'at fault' driver when concluding your settlement. 

In your own insurance policy you will find a section which basically says that if you are a spouse who is not regularly employed and you are unable to do housework you can receive up to $100.00 per week for 26 weeks. The benefit of this section is that you can make a claim against your own insurance company and don't have to wait until you resolve your file to get paid.

The balance of your housekeeping claim will be against the 'at fault' driver. You do not need to be a full time homemaker to advance this aspect of your claim. Both men and women are eligible.

Housekeeping claims are basically assessed on the basis of the number of hours spent performing such tasks as shopping, cooking, cleaning, snow removal, yard work and managing the household.

If you have to hire someone to perform these tasks while you are injured you are entitled to be compensated for this.   Similarly, and quite frankly, more commonly, other members of the household end up assuming these duties. Even in these circumstances, you are still entitled to be compensated. You may also make the claim if you can perform some, but not all, of these chores.

Pre-trial losses are generally assessed at either the amount you have actually spent to hire replacement help, or if replacement help has not been hired, then generally a lump sum is awarded for the loss of capacity.

In assessing future losses the Court will look at the actual labor involved as well as the management aspect of maintaining a home. To assess the loss they take into account the number of hours normally spent on household tasks and multiply that figure by the 'going rate' for such services. One then looks at how long you will be disabled from performing these duties and applies a 'gross up' figure to take into account the fact that you will have to pay tax on the income earned from your award and will therefore have less actual money in your pocket to pay for these expenses. This may then be discounted to take into account certain contingencies such as age and permanency of the disability.

Lastly, you needn't hire a housekeeper once you receive the award from the 'at fault' driver. You are free to blow it all on a trip to Thailand or let it ride on black in the local casino.

While in most cases these claims do not amount to much, in more serious cases they can form a significant part of your settlement. Knowing who to claim against and what you are entitled to is often the most effective way of ensuring your treated fairly.

By Tom McCartney