A Guide to Light Duty Jobs: What You Need to Know

When a worker is hurt on the job, the best thing you can do is get the employee back to work as soon as possible, even if they are still recovering from their injury or illness. This may mean offering the worker a position at reduced capacity, or light duty.

Injured at work? Stacey has recommendations on light duty and other accommodations to help the employee -- and the workplace -- stay productive, even through an injury.

What is a Light Duty Job?

A light duty job is a modified job assignment that is less physically or mentally demanding than normal job duties. It allows injured workers to return to work without aggravating their injury.

Light duty jobs can be beneficial for employees who are physically or mentally injured and need to return to work. These jobs can help employees maintain their income and benefits while they recover. Light duty jobs can also help employers reduce workers’ compensation costs and improve employee morale.

Understanding Light Duty Work Restrictions and Limitations

Light duty work restrictions and limitations are common after a workplace injury. Medical restrictions may prevent an injured worker from returning to their regular job, but they can return to work in a different, light duty capacity while still receiving medical benefits.

A light duty role may be significantly different from regular job duties, depending on the required modifications. Examples may include desk job tasks like filing paperwork, answering phones, or performing data entry.

The Role of the Doctor in Determining Work Restrictions

A treating physician can help you determine the necessary work restrictions for an injured worker’s recovery. The doctor’s orders may include no heavy lifting, bending, or repetitive tasks.

Based on restrictions, you can offer light duty that complies with the doctor’s orders. The doctor’s role is crucial in determining the appropriate work restrictions and limitations for an injured worker.

Employer Responsibilities in Offering Light Duty Positions

You have specific responsibilities when offering workers light duty work. One of those includes the requirement to provide a suitable job that meets the worker’s medical restrictions.

From here, you must adequately document the job offer. This includes outlining the nature of the job, the physical demands, working hours, and wages. You must ensure the job is reasonable and meets specific criteria.

While light duty job offers may be a stretch from employees' normal, less physically demanding tasks, offering work light duty plays a critical role for an employee's self-esteem and future productivity.

Employee Rights and Responsibilities in Light Duty Work

Injured workers have the right to accept or decline a light duty job offer. They can also request modifications to the job.

Employees have the responsibility to communicate with you and their doctor about their work restrictions and limitations. They must also follow the doctor’s orders and adhere to the work restrictions, so as to not provoke the injury.

The Benefits of Light Duty Jobs for Employees and Employers

There are many benefits to offering light duty for both employees and employers from both an employee morale and a financial standpoint.

1. Light duty is good for the worker.

Anytime an employee is injured on the job, they must file a workers' compensation claim to report the work injury. Depending on the injury, they may need to be treated by a doctor.

Although doctors may impose physical limitations on injured employees, any form of modified job duties will keep employees working. This elevates both the injured employee's morale and the morale of others who see them back at work. It also keeps coworkers from being over-burdened when they do not have to take on additional duties.

Workers sitting at home to recover from workplace injuries become bored, disengaged, and are only paid a fraction of their salary, depending on their workers' compensation benefits. While their light duty roles might not be the same as their normal duties, they’ll still be contributing and making a difference. Employees will also maintain their skills and experience while they recover, and possibly add new skills to their expertise.

How: Consider whether there are other tasks the worker could do. Could the addition of a stool, chair, modified mouse and keyboard, or dictation software help? A little investment can go a long way in terms of accommodation.

2. Light duty is good for your business.

Can you move an injured employee temporarily into another role? Are you able to cut back on hours or implement more breaks to give the employee additional time to heal?

It is doubtful the work of an injured employee can wait until the employee is back to 100%, which can put your company and remaining staff behind. By making accommodations, you help ensure the work gets completed -- even if it means swapping roles with another worker for a little while. This will help the morale of the rest of the team since you are not asking them to do double duty while an injured employee is recovering.

Hopefully, with a few adjustments, your business can continue to operate with little interruption.

How: Look for other tasks that an injured worker can perform with the injury. It is okay to change the employee’s rate of pay if the light duty work is a lower pay grade. Just be sure you discuss this with the employee beforehand and be aware that there may be workers’ compensation payouts towards the claim if there is a significant difference in pay (see #3).

3. Light duty is good for your finances.

In most states, when an employee is injured at work, they will receive 66.67% of regular wages from workers’ comp benefits while recovering from their injury. Any work they do or income they make during that time reduces the amount of money they receive from the workers’ compensation payout, which reduces the financial responsibility associated with the claim.

Spending time at work also helps to keep an employee more positive about work and about you as an employer. That way, when they do take a break and watch TV or surf the internet, those personal injury attorney ads seem much less convincing.

How: Always consult with the employee’s doctor to ensure the light duty work will not result in additional injuries or increase the time it takes the employee to heal. And remember to keep your expectations realistic. Even an employee who is capable of doing their normal job with modifications may have reduced output.

4. Light duty is good for your e-mod.

Let's take a short break from light duty to discuss what an experience modifier (e-mod) is.

Your company’s e-mod is the multiplier used to determine your workers’ compensation premium, which reflects your utilization of workers' compensation insurance as compared to other businesses within the same industry. An e-mod of 1.0 is the industry average, so if your workers’ compensation premium prior to being multiplied by the e-mod is $100,000, an e-mod of 1.0 means your total premium is $100,000 x 1.0, or exactly $100,000.

If your company pays out more or less money towards workers’ compensation claims than other companies of similar size and industry in your state, your e-mod will be adjusted by the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI). Companies with fewer claims and/or expenses will be adjusted to less than 1.0, whereas companies with more claims and/or expenses will be higher than 1.0.

When an employee is injured, the claim will typically show up in your experience modifier after the policy year in which the claim occurred and will stay there for three years. In other words, you will not see its effect immediately but it will be factored in during the next policy renewal based on a rolling three-year window of claims data.

While there is a lot to be said about all this, think of it as being similar to health insurance claims: the less you have to utilize your workers' compensation insurance, the less your company’s premiums will increase.

How to accommodate: Find room for improvement with your company's safety program and culture. While a serious claim will certainly have an impact, your company’s e-mod may be more heavily affected by a steady stream of smaller, more frequent claims because they demonstrate a negligent attitude towards safety.

For help with understanding the purpose and benefits of light duty, please contact your certified HR expert.

Common Challenges in Implementing Light Duty Jobs

One of the common challenges regarding light duty is the lack of suitable positions available at modified duty, per restrictions. Employers may struggle to find jobs that meet the worker’s medical restrictions and limitations, and may require some creativity.

Employees may also struggle to adapt to new job roles and responsibilities. Workers who prefer to work with their hands may have to work behind a computer while they recover.

Communication among employers, employees, and doctors can also be a challenge. Be sure you do your part as the employer to communicate details about the light duty position with all involved parties throughout the process. This includes communicating your expectations and timeline with coworkers so they are aware of the impact and length of the temporary change.

If you need help, suggestions, or advice, please contact your certified HR expert.

Best Practices for Creating a Light Duty Job Program

Creating a light duty job program may begin as a general policy but must be adapted to meet the worker’s medical restrictions and limitations. Employers should provide adequate training and support for employees who are offered a light duty job.

As employees slowly recover, employers should monitor their progress and adjust the modifications as needed. Employers should communicate effectively with employees and doctors throughout the process, from creating reasonable accommodations to adjusting modified work.

For more ideas and tips on best practices, please contact your Stratus HR rep. Not a current Stratus HR client? Book a free consultation and our team will contact you shortly.