Accident Victim

Income Replacement

The Société compensates a victim for real loss of income if the person is unable to resume employment or regular activities because of injury sustained in an automobile accident.

These persons are:

• full-time employees
• temporary or part-time employees

The same applies to persons who, during the first 180 days after an accident, would have been employed were it not for the accident, or were deprived of employment insurance benefits (formerly called unemployment insurance benefits) or employment assistance payments from the Ministère de l'Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale. Among these are victims who were unemployed yet capable of working, unless a person is age 65 or older.

A biweekly income replacement indemnity is paid for the period of disability, except for the first seven days after the accident, including that day.

The amount of indemnity is generally calculated on the basis of employment held at the time of the accident.

Beginning the 181st day after an accident
So as to not penalize, in the longer term, those victims who did not suffer an actual loss of income due to the accident because they were not holding full-time employment (they held temporary or part-time employment or were unemployed), their disability is reassessed from the 181st day following the accident on the basis of employment they could have held at the time of the accident. This covers:

• temporary or part-time employees
• people under age 65 at the time of the accident, not employed but capable of working
• people age 65 or older, not employed but who would have held employment were it not for the accident.

As of the 181st day following the accident, such people will be compensated on the basis of their potential loss of income from employment they would have been fit to hold.

In determining suitable employment, the Société takes into account:

• physical and mental capabilities at the time of the accident
• training
• work experience.

Employment determined for a victim must be full time, unless the person does not have the physical and mental ability to do such work.

Duration
Income compensation is generally paid to a personfor the length of disability due to an accident, depending on occupational conditions.

Full-time employees, and temporary or part-time employees, are entitled to income replacement indemnity payments for as long as they are unable, because of accident-related injury, to resume employment normally held when the accident occurred or to hold employment determined for them from the 181st day after the accident.

People in full-time attendance at an educational institution, who also had a job at the time of the accident, are entitled to income compensation as long as that employment remains available and they are unfit to hold it because of injury sustained.

A person who under 16 is no longer eligible at the end of the school year during which the person turns 16. For someone 16 or older, eligibility finishes on the expected end date of the studies in progress at the time of the accident.

A person who is deprived of employment insurance benefits because of an automobile accident entitled to income compensation for as long as he or she qualifies for those benefits.

From the third year following an accident
If a victim is deemed fit to work two years after an accident, but with diminished capabilities because of injury, the Société will determine suitable employment for him or her in light of abilities.

Income compensation will be adjusted accordingly.

In case of relapse
An accident victim's file may be reopened even after the end of a disability period and the cessation of indemnity payments. A victim who suffers a relapse in connection with injury sustained is again entitled to compensation.

.

Top of SectionTop of Page