If My Employer Offers Light Duty, Do I Have to Take It?

After a work injury, many employers offer a “light duty” or “transitional” job while the worker recovers. Injured workers often ask whether they have to accept it. In most cases, the answer is yes, but only if the job really fits your restrictions.

The short answer

If you are unable to return to the position you held on the date of injury, but your employer offers a job within your medical restrictions, you must accept that position. If you do not, you would not be eligible for temporary total disability benefits while you remain out of work.

What makes a job offer valid

Not every offer qualifies. Under the Industrial Commission’s rules, the offer must be made in good faith, it must be for work within your physical capabilities (including any psychiatric condition allowed in the claim), and it must be within a reasonable distance of your home. If the employer wants to use your refusal to stop your benefits, the offer must be in writing and must identify the position, describe its duties, and clearly specify its physical demands.

Before you say yes or no

• Get the offer in writing. Compare the duties and physical demands to your doctor’s written restrictions.
• Show it to your doctor. Your treating physician is the person who decides whether the job is within your restrictions.
• Do not simply ignore it. Refusing a valid offer can end your temporary total disability benefits.
• If you try it and cannot do it, tell your employer and your doctor right away, and write down what happened.

If light duty pays less

If you go back to work at a job within your restrictions but earn less than you did before the injury, you may be eligible for Working Wage Loss benefits to make up part of the difference. See How will I get paid if I cannot work.

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