After a workplace injury, your doctor may clear you to return to work with restrictions. Your employer might then offer light-duty work, such as shorter shifts, administrative tasks, or duties that avoid heavy lifting. Sometimes, your employer may offer you a position before your doctor officially clears you for light-duty work.
That offer can affect your workers’ compensation benefits. Before accepting, declining, or attempting the assignment, the workers’ comp attorneys at Labovitz Law Firm can help you understand your rights and how the offer may affect your benefits.
What Is Light-Duty Work?
Light-duty or modified-duty work allows an injured employee to perform tasks within medically established limits while recovering. Restrictions might address:
- How much weight you can lift.
- Whether you can bend, climb, or kneel.
- How long you can stand or sit.
- Whether you can operate machinery.
- How many hours you can work.
The job title does not determine whether an assignment is appropriate. A position labeled “light duty” may still require activities that conflict with your restrictions.
Missouri’s Division of Workers’ Compensation explains that when a doctor permits modified work, and the employer offers it, temporary total disability benefits may no longer be payable.
Compare the Offer With Your Medical Restrictions
Ask for a written description of the proposed assignment. It should identify the duties, schedule, physical demands, pay, and start date.
Describe the assignment to your treating physician and ask whether the actual tasks fit your restrictions. General statements such as “no strenuous activity” may need clarification before you return.
For example, a warehouse employee with a lifting restriction might receive an inventory assignment. However, if the job also requires moving heavy boxes, the assignment needs further review.
Keep copies of your medical restrictions and the employer’s offer. Document any differences between the written description and what you are asked to do.
How Does Light Duty Affect Wage Benefits?
Returning to work does not always mean receiving your previous paycheck or losing every workers’ compensation benefit.
Returning at Full Pay
If you perform suitable modified work at your regular earnings, temporary wage-loss benefits generally will not continue for that period.
However, returning to work does not automatically resolve questions about the need for medical treatment or a permanent disability. Those involve separate considerations.
Returning at Reduced Pay
Temporary partial disability benefits may apply when your injury limits your earnings during recovery.
Missouri generally calculates these benefits at 66⅔% of the difference between your pre-injury average earnings and what you can earn during the disability through reasonable diligence. Statutory limits apply.
For example, if the applicable pre-injury weekly earnings are $900 and the qualifying post-injury earnings are $600, two-thirds of the $300 difference is $200. Your actual entitlement depends on the evidence and applicable limits.
When No Suitable Assignment Is Available
A medical release with restrictions does not necessarily mean your employer has work you can perform. If no suitable assignment exists, temporary total disability benefits may remain an issue.
Your medical condition, work capacity, and stage of recovery matter. Ask for clarification rather than assuming benefits automatically stop or continue.
Can You Refuse Light-Duty Work?
Declining an offer without addressing the medical and legal issues can put benefits at risk.
Missouri law provides that voluntarily leaving employment when the employer has work available within the employee’s medical restrictions can disqualify the employee from temporary total and temporary partial disability benefits.
The law also addresses termination for post-injury misconduct. These provisions make it important to get advice before quitting, refusing assignments, or assuming a disagreement cannot affect compensation.
If you believe the assignment exceeds your restrictions, explain the specific conflict in writing and seek clarification from the treating physician. Simply calling the work unsuitable is less helpful than identifying the task and the restriction it appears to violate.
What If Light Duty Makes Your Symptoms Worse?
Promptly report worsening symptoms to your supervisor and treating physician. Describe what you were doing, when symptoms changed, and which activities caused difficulty. Ask whether your restrictions need updating. Do not treat an employer’s reassurance that a task is safe as a substitute for medical guidance.
Keep a dated record of:
- Assigned duties and hours worked.
- Requests to perform tasks outside your restrictions.
- Symptoms reported, and responses received.
- Updated medical instructions.
- Paychecks and benefit payments.
Accurate records can help resolve disagreements about your work capacity and earnings.
What If Your Benefits Stop?
Ask for the reason in writing. Missouri law requires notice and an explanation when an employer terminates certain disability payments.
If you dispute the termination, a hearing may be available. Missouri also provides procedures for addressing disputes involving medical treatment and temporary disability benefits. An attorney can evaluate the appropriate next step and supporting evidence.
Contact Labovitz Law Firm About a Light-Duty Offer
An appropriate return-to-work plan should account for your medical restrictions and the benefits available under Missouri law.
If you were injured at work in St. Louis or a surrounding Missouri community, contact Labovitz Law Firm for help evaluating a light-duty offer, reduced wages, or disputed workers’ compensation benefits. Call 314-897-3840 to discuss your situation.
