Estimate future loss of earnings from annual pay and days lost, hourly missed time, or pre- and post-injury income with present value.

Estimate in USD, not a legal damages award. Choose growth and discount rates on the same inflation basis; tax and benefit treatment depends on the claim.

Fractional years are allowed. Payments are assumed at each year end; a final partial year is paid at the next year end.

Projection assumptions

Blank means 0%. Applied equally to both earnings amounts.

Blank means 0%. Converts end-of-year losses to present value.

Blank means 0%. Applied to the positive earnings gap.

Blank means 0%. A simplified reduction of present value, not a tax calculation.

Blank means 100%.

Blank means 0. Kept constant in nominal dollars; losses are floored at zero.

Related Calculators

Future Loss of Earnings Formula

For the Annual earnings and days lost mode, the following formula estimates gross earnings lost from a given number of days missed.

FLE = (AS) / (DPY) × DL
  • Where FLE is the future loss of earnings ($)
  • AS is the average annual salary or earnings ($)
  • DPY is the days-per-year basis used to convert annual earnings to a daily rate (for example, 365 calendar days or 260 working days)
  • DL is the total number of days lost (use the same type of days as DPY)

For daily loss, multiply AS / DPY by DL. The hourly mode uses hourly pay × hours lost. The multi-year mode projects the positive annual earnings gap with growth, adds the selected benefits percentage, subtracts fixed annual avoided expenses, floors loss at zero, and applies employment probability. It discounts each modeled year-end payment by (1 + discount rate) raised to its payment year; a final fractional year is prorated at the next year end. The optional flat tax percentage reduces that present value. These USD estimates are simplified scenarios, not legal damages awards. Growth and discount rates must use a consistent inflation basis.

What is a future loss of earnings?

Definition:

A future loss of earnings is an estimate of the earnings (or earning capacity) expected to be lost in the future due to an injury or other event that reduces the ability to work. When losses extend across multiple years, they are often projected over time and discounted to present value.

These events are commonly workplace injuries. In business contexts, similar methods are used to estimate future lost income or profits from events such as contract breaches or intellectual property infringement.

How to calculate future loss of earnings?

Example Problem:

The following example outlines the step-by-step process to calculate a future loss of earnings.

First, select Annual earnings and days lost and enter the average annual earnings. In this example, the average annual earnings are $100,000.00.

Next, determine the estimated number of days that will be lost. In this case, the event is an injury that causes a person to miss 100 working days.

Then, select a days-per-year basis that matches your definition of “days lost.” For working days, a common basis is 260 working days per year.

Finally, calculate the future loss of earnings using the formula above:

FLE = AS / DPY * DL

FLE = 100000 / 260 * 100

FLE = $38,461.54