Decide what needs confirmation
Before contacting payroll or human resources, compare your notes with pay statements and the work schedule. Identify the specific period and the question. A broad request to “prove my damages” gives the employer little guidance and may invite conclusions it cannot responsibly make.
The California Courts’ pre-lawsuit guide gives wage documentation as one example of supporting evidence. Requirements elsewhere may differ, so ask the lawyer, insurer, or agency handling the matter whether it has a required form.
Use a factual request outline
Ask for confirmation of:
- Employment dates and the relevant role.
- Hourly, salary, commission, or other pay basis.
- Scheduled and actually worked hours during the identified period.
- Dates and hours recorded as absent.
- Sick leave, vacation, disability, or other payments recorded by the employer.
- Who prepared the confirmation and how it can be verified.
Do not ask the employer to guess a medical prognosis or state that another party caused the absence. Medical restrictions and payroll facts may come from different sources. Keep them connected by dates rather than blending them into one unsupported conclusion.
Reconcile a common discrepancy
Imagine your calendar shows five missed shifts, but payroll records four absences and one shift swap. Ask about the difference. The fifth day may still matter, but it should not be labeled unpaid missed work without checking what happened.
Variable schedules require special care. Use actual scheduled work when available and identify the basis for any estimate. Do not select a particularly high-earning week without explaining why it represents the period being reviewed.
Review and preserve the response
Check names, dates, amounts, and units. If a correction is needed, request an updated confirmation and retain the earlier version with an explanation. Avoid changing an employer’s statement yourself.
Send only the necessary medical information through the employer’s designated process. Keep a redacted working copy for organizational use, and provide the original through the channel requested by the professional handling your matter. A wage confirmation supports a factual review; it does not determine which losses are legally recoverable or guarantee an insurance payment.