The Short Answer
To sue for loss of wages beyond workers’ compensation in Colorado, you generally need a third party — someone other than your employer — whose negligence caused your injury. While workers’ comp covers about two-thirds of your average weekly wage, a third-party personal injury lawsuit can recover full lost wages, future earning capacity, and other damages. These claims usually must be filed within two years of the injury (three years for motor vehicle cases), and they run alongside, not instead of, your workers’ comp benefits.
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When you want to know how to sue for loss of wages after a workplace injury, the honest answer is this: in most cases, you can’t sue your own employer directly. Colorado workers’ compensation is the “exclusive remedy” against your employer. But you often can sue a third party whose negligence caused the injury — and that lawsuit can recover the full wages workers’ comp leaves on the table.
That distinction is everything. And it’s where a lot of injured workers in Colorado Springs lose money they were entitled to recover.
Workers’ Comp vs. Suing for Lost Wages: Why They’re Not the Same
Workers’ compensation is a no-fault system. You don’t have to prove your employer did anything wrong. In exchange for that ease of access, the law caps what you can recover and bars you from suing your employer in court for most workplace injuries. That trade-off is the heart of the system.
Here’s how workers’ comp wage benefits break down in Colorado:
- Temporary Total Disability (TTD) pays roughly two-thirds of your average weekly wage while you’re completely unable to work, subject to a state maximum.
- Temporary Partial Disability (TPD) kicks in when you can work in a limited capacity but earn less than before.
- Permanent Partial Disability (PPD) compensates lasting impairment once you reach maximum medical improvement.
Notice the ceiling: two-thirds. If you earned $1,200 a week before a forklift crushed your foot in a Fountain warehouse, workers’ comp replaces roughly $800 — and nothing for the career promotion you missed, the overtime you can no longer work, or the years of reduced earning capacity ahead of you.
A lawsuit is different. Suing for lost wages in a personal injury case means recovering the full value of what the injury cost you — past wages, future earning capacity, lost benefits, and missed advancement. No two-thirds cap. That’s why understanding when a lawsuit is possible matters so much.
When You Can Sue for Lost Wages Beyond Workers’ Comp
The exclusive remedy rule has real exceptions. In our experience handling both workers’ comp and personal injury claims for clients across El Paso County, these are the situations that open the door to a lawsuit.
A Negligent Third Party Caused Your Injury
This is the most common path. If someone other than your employer or a co-worker caused your injury, you can pursue a third-party claim against them while still collecting workers’ comp. Examples we see regularly:
- A delivery driver runs a red light at Powers Boulevard and hits you while you’re working. That driver — and their insurer — are fair game.
- A subcontractor on a construction site near Monument leaves an unguarded opening and you fall. The subcontractor’s negligence is separate from your employer’s.
- A piece of defective equipment fails and injures you. The equipment manufacturer may be liable under product liability law.
- You’re driving for work on I-25 near Security-Widefield and a negligent motorist causes a crash. That’s both a workers’ comp claim and a potential auto accident claim.
These overlap with our work on automobile accident cases and workers’ compensation claims — which is exactly why having one attorney evaluate both pathways matters.
Intentional Harm by Your Employer
If your employer deliberately caused harm — not negligence, but intentional conduct — the exclusive remedy shield can fall away. These cases are rare and demanding to prove, but they exist.
Your Workers’ Comp Claim Was Denied
A denial doesn’t mean the end. It may mean appealing through the Division of Workers’ Compensation, or it may signal that your real recovery lies in a third-party claim that was overlooked from the start. This is one of the most important moments to have someone look at the whole picture.
This is where Bradford Pelton PC structures cases differently. Attorney Alex Kerr handles both workers’ compensation and personal injury claims under one roof. When a case needs to pivot from a comp claim to a third-party lawsuit, there’s no handoff to another firm, no lost time, no strategy reset. The same attorney who knows your file makes the call.
What “Lost Wages” Actually Includes in a Lawsuit
People underestimate this category badly. In a personal injury lawsuit, lost wages mean far more than the paychecks you’ve already missed.
Past lost wages. Every hour, shift, and day of work you missed from the injury through resolution.
Future earning capacity. This is often the largest piece. If a back injury from a fall in Manitou Springs means you can never return to physical labor, the difference between what you would have earned and what you can now earn — over your entire working life — is recoverable.
Lost benefits. Health insurance, retirement contributions, and other employer benefits tied to your job.
Lost advancement. Promotions, raises, and opportunities the injury took from you.
Proving future losses isn’t guesswork. Colorado courts typically rely on economic expert testimony — a vocational or economic expert who projects your career trajectory, factors in inflation and work-life expectancy, and puts a defensible number on what the injury cost you. We build these cases with documentation: pay stubs, tax returns, employer wage verification, and medical records that clearly link the injury to the wage loss.
Colorado Rules That Shape Your Recovery
A few state-specific rules can make or break a lost wage claim.
Comparative Negligence
Colorado follows modified comparative negligence. You can recover damages only if you were less than 50% at fault. If you’re found 50% or more responsible, recovery is barred entirely. And any award is reduced by your percentage of fault — if you’re 20% at fault on a $200,000 claim, you recover $160,000. Defense lawyers fight hard over these percentages, which is why how your case is presented matters.
Statute of Limitations
The deadlines differ depending on the type of claim:
- A standard workers’ compensation claim generally must be filed within two years of the injury. You also must report the injury to your employer in writing within 10 days.
- Most third-party personal injury lawsuits must be filed within two years.
- If the injury involves a motor vehicle — like that delivery driver on Academy Boulevard — you have three years.
Miss the deadline, and the claim is gone regardless of how strong it was.
Avoiding Double Recovery
When you collect both workers’ comp and a third-party settlement, Colorado law requires coordination so you don’t recover the same loss twice. The workers’ comp insurer typically holds a subrogation lien — a right to be reimbursed out of your third-party recovery for what it already paid. Handled poorly, this lien can swallow your settlement. Handled well, it can often be negotiated down. This coordination is precisely why having one attorney manage both claims protects your bottom line.
If you’ve been injured on a job site, our work on inadequate maintenance and unsafe property conditions may also apply, depending on who controlled the location where you were hurt.
Why the Right Strategy Has to Come Early
The biggest mistakes happen at the start — before anyone’s thinking about a lawsuit. Evidence disappears. A subcontractor’s negligence goes undocumented. A workers’ comp settlement gets signed without anyone evaluating the third-party claim sitting right next to it.
That’s the gap Bradford Pelton PC was built to close. Because Alex Kerr personally handles cases from the first consultation through settlement or trial, the question of “is there a lawsuit here beyond workers’ comp?” gets asked on day one — not after the comp benefits run dry. You can see what past clients have said about that approach on our reviews page.
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This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Every case is different. Contact Bradford Pelton PC for a free consultation to discuss your specific situation.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How to sue for loss of wages?
To sue for loss of wages after a work injury in Colorado, you generally file a third-party personal injury claim against whoever negligently caused your injury — such as a contractor, equipment manufacturer, or negligent driver — since you usually cannot sue your own employer directly. You’ll need documentation of your lost income, medical records linking the injury to the wage loss, and often an economic expert to project future losses. Deadlines apply, so it’s wise to have an attorney evaluate your case early.
How much compensation do you get for loss of earnings?
It depends heavily on the circumstances. Unlike workers’ comp, which caps wage replacement at roughly two-thirds of your average weekly wage, a third-party lawsuit may recover your full past wages plus future earning capacity, lost benefits, and missed advancement. Recovery is also reduced by your percentage of fault under Colorado’s comparative negligence rule, and results vary by case, so no specific amount can be guaranteed.
How long does it take for No Fault to pay lost wages?
Colorado is not a no-fault auto insurance state — it operates under a fault-based system — so lost wage payments in an injury claim typically come through the at-fault party’s liability insurer or your own coverage. Timing varies widely depending on liability disputes, the severity of injuries, and whether the case settles or goes to trial. Workers’ comp wage benefits, by contrast, often begin sooner once the claim is accepted.
Can I sue my employer for lost wages in Colorado?
In most cases, no — Colorado workers’ compensation is the exclusive remedy against your employer, even when wage benefits fall short of your actual losses. The main exceptions are intentional harm by your employer or situations where a third party, not your employer, caused the injury. An attorney who handles both workers’ comp and personal injury claims can tell you which path fits your situation.
What’s the difference between TTD, TPD, and PPD benefits in Colorado?
Temporary Total Disability (TTD) pays about two-thirds of your average weekly wage while you’re fully unable to work. Temporary Partial Disability (TPD) applies when you can work in a reduced capacity but earn less than before. Permanent Partial Disability (PPD) compensates lasting impairment once you reach maximum medical improvement, calculated based on your impairment rating.