Secondary victims can demonstrate their loss of earnings by providing evidence of what they earnt before the violent act along with evidence of their loss of capacity to work and their exceptional circumstances.
✅ Showing an incapacity to work Example: Prue works as a waitress in a café and went in to visit a co-worker on her day off. While she was there, she witnessed a regular customer to the café threaten and assault her co-worker. Prue would often serve this regular customer at the café. Prue has developed a psychological injury from this incident, including anxiety about leaving her house and going to the area where the café is located. Prue applies to the FAS for loss of earnings as her injury has prevented her from working for the past two weeks and she has lost any income she would have received in that time since the incident. After some initial counselling and support from her employer, Prue was able to return to work starting with one shift a week. A letter from her doctor has described her injury as causing an initial total incapacity to work, as being present at the café was essential to the performance of her role. The letter then specified that after some initial counselling and the support of her employer in flexible working conditions, she had partial capacity to work but is still unable to earn the same amount of income as she would have prior to witnessing the incident. |
Updated