If you are injured in an accident at work or develop a workplace related injury over a longer time period or an illness at work you should be able to obtain workers’ compensation payments. If treatment results in your complete recovery you will naturally be keen to return to work. Sometimes a doctor may recommend that you do not do exactly the same sort of work as before straight away as it might delay total recovery. Your employer may be able to offer light duty work instead of normal duties if it is available and as long as your doctor agrees with the restrictions involved, you should accept the offer. What is Meant by Light Duty? When the term ‘light duty’ is used, it means doing work that is less physically strenuous than what you would normally have done. It might be totally different work to what you did before or similar work with some changes, e.g. less heavy lifting or less standing upright. It all depends on the sort of workplace you were employed at. For example, if you worked for a supermarket chain as a warehouse worker, it is quite feasible for the supermarket to find less strenuous work, such as labeling goods or recording stock entries on a computer. However, if you normally work in an office and do not normally do anything physically demanding in your normal job, it might be hard for your employer to find anything realistically lighter for you to do. Must an Employer Offer Light-Duty Work? Your employer must offer you light duty work if it is available. This depends on the employer and often on how they value your return to work. Even if they have a duty under state workers’ compensation law to provide light duty work, they may intentionally claim there isn’t any if they are trying to get out of employing you after a workplace injury. The obligation on the employer to provide light duty work is matched by the obligation on you to accept it as long as your doctor approves. Your doctor has the final say about when he or she thinks you are fit enough to return to work. If you are pronounced fit enough to do light duty work with some restrictions, then you should accept it if it is offered, as a refusal to do it could result in a termination of workers’ comp. payments. If your employer seems to be avoiding their responsibility to offer light duty work you may need to discuss the impasse with a workers’ comp. attorney. How a WC Attorney Can Help A workers’ compensation attorney is a valuable asset throughout the workers’ compensation process, from the time immediately after an injury through to obtaining workers’ compensation payments and a return to full work or alternative employment. A workers’ comp. attorney can advise you on the best approach when your doctor recommends a return to work with restrictions based on your legal rights under state and federal law. Additional Resources Do I Need to Accept Light Duty Work if My Employer Offers It to Me? Are There Different Types Of Light Duty Work I Can Do?
