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What You Need to Know About Returning to Work on Light Duty After a Work Injury

After you are injured in an Iowa work accident, your doctor may authorize you to return to work and to perform “light duty” tasks. Light duty accommodations may include:

• Working Shorter Hours—In many cases, your employer will allow you to come back to your job part-time while you finish your recovery from your Iowa work accident.
• Doing Transitional Work—You may be able to perform some of the duties of your previous job that had lighter physical demands. Your employer may allow you to return to work and to perform at least part of your old job.
• Performing a Different Job—After a work accident, your employer may give you a different job altogether while you recover. However, because this new work may not pay as well as your old work, you will still need temporary disability payments to make up for the difference in your old and new wages.
  
• Modifying Your Job—Your employer can make adjustments to your work site or can provide you with special tools, appliances or equipment to use while you recover from your work accident.

Make sure that you provide your employer with written medical authorization releasing you to perform light duty work. Some workers do not want to perform the light duty job that their employer offers them. Of course, no worker should have to perform a job that exceeds his or her medical restrictions following a work accident. If your employer cannot make light duty accommodations for you, then you should continue to receive temporary disability benefits.

However, if the accommodations are reasonable, then you will have to report for work. If you fail to report to work, then you may become ineligible for workers’ compensation pay. Your employer may also have just cause to terminate your employment. Remember that studies show when you are off of work for a lengthy period of time after a work accident, returning to work performing the same job and earning the same rate of pay becomes less likely. Therefore, if your doctor does clear you for light duty, then you should report for work.

Failure to report to work is one of 7 Deadly Mistakes to Avoid if You Are Hurt at Work. To find out more about the 7 Deadly Mistakes as well as information about your rights after a work accident, go to www.IowaWorkInjury.com or call 1-800-707-2552 (ext. 511) (24 Hour Recorded Message). You will receive a free book entitled Iowa Workers’ Compensation: An Insider’s Guide to Work Injuries. The book is yours without any obligation. If you need immediate assistance from a Sioux City attorney about your Iowa work accident, then call 515-440-2852 and ask for Corey.