#236 Georgia Workers' Compensation Lawyer - What is Light Duty? What Happens If the Employer Does Not Have A Job For Me?

Ty Wilson Law Podcast

So, we got a couple questions today. First one is… What is light duty? And then another one that's kind of connected to that is, I was put on light duty. And my employer my job does not have light duty work. So what can I expect? Or what happens with my claim? So, it's cover light duty. When you go to your doctor, or a work injury, the doctor can say, "You're full duty." "No restrictions." 'You can get back to work." "Congratulations!" Or they can say, "You're out of work completely." Those are the two extremes. But there's one other one that's light duty. So, what is it? It's where they say, "We don't want you lifting more than 10 pounds.. fifteen pounds… twenty pounds… twenty five pounds. It's up to the doctor. We don't want you standing for an extended period of time. We don't want you sitting for an extended period of time. We don't want you putting pressure on your knee if it's a knee injury. we don't want you using a hand, your left hand, if you hurt your left hand. And so, light duty also known as limited duty or modified duty is where you are able to go back to work but not in a full duty capacity. Meaning, you do have medical limitations. And so, depending upon what those light duty restrictions are, well then your job obligation at least in the state of Georgia is to let your employer know what are your restrictions. "Do you have any restrictions?" 'Yes, I have light duty restrictions." "Here they are." And the employer then has the opportunity to say, "Okay, you know that we do heavy work here." "I'm sorry we're not gonna be able to accommodate your restriction." And send you home. Or they can say, "Okay, I need you over in the office." "But I never work in the office." "Why are you sending me the office?" Well, they can create a light duty job for you. And depending upon what it is as long as it fits within your medical restrictions. They are allowed to do that. And if you say, "Well, I don't wanna do that." "That's not what I do." They can deny paying you income benefits. So, you really wanna think long and hard about that or you wanna speak with your workers compensation attorney. If you have one. So. when the employer cannot accommodate and will not create a job for you for your light duty restrictions, well then, you are entitled to income benefits, called temporary partial disability. 'Cause you're partially disabled, temporarily. And so, those can be calculated pretty easily. However, the important thing is, can your employer accommodate your library restrictions? Or are they not going to accommodate them? Something else that may help you out and determine kind of where you sit in your client is, are they gonna bring you back? Are you going to get better? If not, you may wanna consider speaking with a workers compensation attorney. My office practices here in the state of Georgia. But you may want to obtain consultation with someone in whatever state you got injured in. Talk about what your rights are. And then, of course, what your options are. There are a lot of different options. It just depends on if you are able to go back physically and if you wanna go back. And then, of course, if the employer wants you back. Hope this information has been helpful. we'll see you on the next video!

CALL US ► 912-208-2992
TEXT US ► 912-233-1100
EMAIL US ► [e-mail]
• Website
• Facebook
• Pinterest