In a workers’ compensation case, the term light duty refers to a modified job assignment that is less physically or mentally demanding than your normal duties.
These jobs allow you to return to work without aggravating your injury. Depending on the state, though, employers may not be legally required to offer you a light duty role.
| Example of regular job duty | Possible corresponding light duty |
| Stocking store shelves | Taking inventory (no lifting) |
| Valeting cars | Manning the valet station (no walking) |
| Working on a factory line | Doing desk work (no standing) |
| Delivering packages | Taking customer service calls (no driving) |
| Working eight-hour days | Same job working four-hour days (fewer hours) |
Can I work my old job without doing the parts that hurt my injury?
Yes, you may be allowed to return to your old job, but with the regular job duties modified so the strenuous parts are left to someone else. This is often the solution
- when your work restrictions only cover a small portion of your job responsibilities, or
- when you can absorb the tasks of many other workers without violating your work restrictions.
For example: A walking letter carrier for the Post Office develops severe foot pain when delivering the mail. He is put on light duty work sorting the mail before delivery. Normally, each letter carrier sorts the mail that they are to deliver. While the victim is on light duty, though, he sorts the mail for the other letter carriers so they can walk his route.1
Do employers have designated light duty roles?
Some companies have designated roles for injured workers.2 Many of these companies provide labor services that create a foreseeable risk of workplace injuries, like those in:
- construction,
- grounds keeping,
- moving, and
- manual labor.
Because these physically demanding tasks often lead to workplace injuries, these companies may have certain roles that are specifically for workers who have been hurt and are recovering.
Typical light duty tasks
Some common light duty roles for recuperating employees include:
- filing clerk,3
- parking lot attendant,4
- sweeper or worksite cleaner,5 and
- taking inventory.6
In other cases, you may work temporarily in a modified role or fill in for another employee who is on leave, vacation, or who is about to resign.
Many employers limit their designated light duty roles to workers who are temporarily, rather than permanently, disabled.7
How does the doctor factor in?
After suffering a work injury, you will see a primary treating physician, or PTP. Based on your symptoms, the PTP can either:
- clear you for work without restrictions,
- let you return to work light duty under certain medical restrictions, or
- refuse to let you return to work, at all.
Some examples of work restrictions include no:
- repetitive gripping and grasping,
- using pounding or vibrating tools,
- typing, especially if you have carpal tunnel syndrome,
- heavy lifting or squatting, often with a weight restriction,
- bending or stooping or twisting at the waist or back,
- driving for prolonged periods of time, and
- prolonged or uninterrupted periods of sitting, walking, pushing, or pulling, often with a specified length of allowable time.
Based on these restrictions, your employer can then offer you a light duty job. This work program would have to comply with the work restrictions set by the doctor.
How do I get paid whether I do light duty or not?
If your employer does not offer a light duty job, or if there is no modified work available, you can receive temporary disability benefits through workers’ compensation. These benefits would cover a portion of your lost wages.
If your employer does offer a light duty job, but you refuse it, you will not receive disability benefits through your workers’ compensation claim.
If you accept the modified working position, you will continue to receive your salary from your employer. You will not receive disability payments through your workers’ comp claim, as this would create a windfall.
As you continue to improve, the doctor will modify the working restrictions. The goal is for you to return to your regular job and to work it full time.8
Does my employer have to provide a role for my work restrictions?
In most states, employers are not legally obligated to offer a light duty job for workers who have been hurt on the job and who now have work restrictions. However, they may be required to make reasonable accommodations for the worker in order to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Even where they are not legally required to do so, many employers choose to offer light duty jobs tailored to the worker’s abilities. Workers’ compensation insurers tend to provide a discount on the premium payments that they charge to employers who offer light duty positions to hurt workers.
Employers who offer light duty roles pay the workers in those jobs their salary. If the employer did not offer the role, the injured worker would continue to receive workers’ compensation disability payments. These payments come from the insurer. Insurers incentivize the creation of light duty jobs in order to reduce the disability payments it hands out.
Will I continue to receive workers’ compensation if I refuse a light duty job?
Generally, no. If you are offered a light duty job and refuse it, you will not be entitled to receive disability payments from the workers’ comp system.
However, if the light duty job is inadequate or does not comply with your work restrictions, a refusal may not impact your workers’ compensation benefits.
How does OSHA define light duty?
OSHA does not provide a specific definition of “light duty.” Instead, OSHA leaves it up to employers to decide specific light duty roles and responsibilities based on their employee’s capabilities.
Although OSHA does not require employers to offer light duty, they do require that any light duty offered be administered in a non-discriminatory manner in accordance with ADA guidelines. OSHA also recommends that the employee’s physician help the employer and employee customize a type of light duty that would be safe, expedite recovery, and is within legal parameters.10
Additional reading
For more in-depth information, refer to these scholarly articles:
- Value Of Work – A Way Of Evaluating A Light Duty Program In a Work Setting – Professional Safety.
- Earlier Return to Light Duty Is Associated With Successful Return to Full Duty of Workers’ Compensation Patients Treated With Shoulder Arthroscopic Surgery – Arthroscopy, Sports Medicine, and Rehabilitation.
- The Light Duty Dilemma – The Labor Lawyer article about employers’ obligations to injured workers.
- Workers’ Compensation, Return to Work, and Use of Light Duty Work Offers – Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Law Journal.
- Exploring Administrators’ Perceptions of Light-Duty Assignment – Police Quarterly.
Legal References:
- Shiring v. Runyon, 90 F.3d 827 (3d Cir. 1996).
- See, for example, Dalton v. Subaru-Isuzu Automotive, Inc., 141 F.3d 667 (7th Cir. 1998).
- Jones v. Astrue, No. 12-cv-2125-WJM (D.Colo. Aug. 27, 2013).
- Same.
- Knight v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 562 S.E.2d 434 (N.C. Ct. App. 2002).
- Williams v. Dolgencorp, Inc., 888 So. 2d 260 (La. Ct. App. 2004).
- See, for example, Hendricks-Robinson v. Excel Corp., 154 F.3d 685 (7th Cir. 1998). Note that “light duty” and “modified duty” are often used interchangeably in workers’ comp cases. Technically, they are different. Light duty is less demanding work, physically and/or mentally. An example would be answering phones instead of stocking shelves. Modified duty (or “alternative duty”) means work in which obstacles that prevent injured workers from carrying out their essential job duties are changed, adapted, or eliminated. Therefore workers are performing the same job, just under different conditions – such as meeting with clients over Zoom rather than in person. See, for example, Handbook for Injured Employees, Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation.
- See Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Notice No. 915.002, “Enforcement Guidance: Workers’ Compensation and the ADA.” September 3, 1996. In some cases, modified job duties can create conflict in the workplace. Some common disputes regarding light duty work are:
- the worker feels pressured to return to their original job before they are medically ready for it,
- the employer struggles to distribute job duties with the employee working in a reduced capacity,
- the employer assigns the worker tasks that they are not supposed to do, according to the doctor’s orders,
- the employer thinks that the employee’s injuries and physical limitations are not as bad as they are claiming them to be, or is being too cautious about returning,
- the employer gets frustrated paying the employee’s normal salary for less demanding work, and
- the employer’s workers’ compensation insurance company pushes for the employee to return to work so the employer pays the worker a salary, rather than the insurer paying the worker disability payments.
These disputes can become quite significant. The employer may even retaliate against the worker for their injury. Injured employees facing any of these issues should strongly consider getting the legal advice of a workers’ compensation lawyer from a reputable law firm. - See, for example, OSHA regulation 1904.36 – Prohibition against discrimination. See also Clinicians, OSHA.
