When another party's negligence is the cause of your car accident, you are entitled to recover all of your economic losses from them. This includes the salary and wages you did not receive as a result of your inability to work. Your car accident lawyer will calculate your average weekly wages based on your pay stubs and salary records immediately before your accident. They will multiply that average by the number of weeks that you are unable to work. The resulting amount will be the starting point for your lawyer's argument regarding the amount of lost salary and wages that should be awarded to you.