A dog-bite injury may affect a shift, commute, customer appointment, physical task, childcare routine, household job, or self-employed project. Those effects can be difficult to reconstruct months later if the only record is a round number or a calendar note saying “out of work.”

A work-and-activity record should connect each missed shift, reduced duty, unpaid task, paid replacement, or household change to a date, source document, medical restriction when applicable, and actual amount rather than an estimate made at the end of the claim.

Start with the ordinary baseline

  • Employer, job title, pay method, regular schedule, overtime pattern, commissions, tips, bonuses, leave policy, and usual physical duties
  • Self-employment business, customers, scheduled projects, invoices, expenses, seasonality, and tax or accounting records
  • Routine childcare, transportation, cooking, cleaning, yard work, pet care, shopping, maintenance, and family responsibilities
  • Pre-attack restrictions, prior leave, unrelated illness, job change, business slowdown, or other factor affecting the same period
  • Records stored privately with Social Security numbers, bank details, and unrelated personnel information redacted from working copies

Collect source records from work

The U.S. Department of Labor wage recordkeeping guidance describes records covered employers generally keep for covered nonexempt workers, including hours worked, pay basis, rates, earnings, deductions, pay periods, and payment dates. Depending on the worker, useful sources may include schedules, timecards, pay statements, leave records, supervisor messages, restrictions, return-to-work notes, and payroll confirmations.

  • List the exact date and hours missed, the planned shift or task, and whether the time was unpaid, paid through leave, or later made up
  • Record reduced hours, modified duties, lost overtime, canceled appointments, or declined assignments separately
  • For self-employment, preserve the original booking, customer communication, invoice, refund, replacement labor, and ordinary business records
  • Do not ask an employer to speculate about future losses or alter a routine record
  • Reconcile any personal worksheet to payroll, tax, accounting, and medical records instead of treating it as the source

Track daily activities without using conclusions

  • Task normally performed, date it was missed or changed, specific limitation, and duration
  • Person who helped, relationship, hours, task, and whether money was actually paid
  • Receipt, invoice, canceled service, delivery fee, transportation expense, or other supporting record
  • Medical instruction or restriction that relates to the limitation, when one exists
  • Improvement, return to activity, new event, or unrelated reason for a continuing change

Preserve business records and their source

North Carolina Rule of Evidence 803 includes conditions for records of regularly conducted activity. Whether a particular payroll, employment, medical, or business record is admissible depends on the rule and its foundation. Keep routine source records and their custodian or origin identifiable rather than recreating them for the claim.

Use a transparent calculation

North Carolina Rule of Evidence 1006 addresses summaries of voluminous records under stated conditions. A working ledger can show date, category, quantity, rate, subtotal, source, and adjustment, while preserving the originals. Separate gross wages, take-home pay, used leave, replacement expense, and projected amounts so they are not added twice.

The related dog-bite medical-expense documentation guide covers statements, itemized bills, insurance adjustments, payments, and unresolved balances.

Rosensteel Fleishman Car Accident & Injury Lawyers provides information about Charlotte dog-bite claims involving documented work and daily-activity losses. Which items may be legally recoverable is fact-specific and should be evaluated separately from the recordkeeping process.

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