When a worker gets hurt in the workplace, he or she may be eligible to get workers’ compensation benefits. They will pay them medically and financially until the worker recovers and is able to return to work. Not all injured workers, however, are fully incapacitated throughout the recovery period. The employees in most instances can go back to work but with some restriction or limitation. One needs to know how working under limitations affects wage replacement benefits, employees and employers alike.

Understanding Work Limitations in Workers’ Compensation

Work restrictions are limitations imposed on an injured employee by the treating physician. Work restrictions do not intend to worsen the injury but, nevertheless, allow the employee to perform work responsibilities in his or her own physical limitation. Restrictions can be as general as relying on the severity of the injury, from the restriction of heavy lifting to requiring a modified work schedule.

The employers can give light or accommodated duty work to accommodate these restrictions. If work is not possible by the employer, the employee will get workers’ compensation benefits until the employee returns to normal work or obtains other employment.

Wage Replacement Benefits and Working With Limitations

One of the most frequent questions an injured worker raises when returned to work with light duty is how it would affect his wage replacement benefits. Worker’s compensation provides economic benefits to injured workers no longer able to earn their pre-incident wages because of work injury. The type and duration of compensation, if any, that the employee will be eligible for would also be based on whether the employee is able to or unable to work presently and based on previous earnings.

Temporary Partial Disability Benefits

If the injured employee is able to return to work but not in the same capacity in the same job, he or she may be qualified for temporary partial disability (TPD) benefits. The TPD beneficiaries receive a wage payment for loss due to work limitations. TPD benefits typically calculate the difference between the employee’s pre-injury wages and what he or she is earning with the limited capacity when he or she returns to work.

Temporary Total Disability Benefits

When an employee cannot perform any kind of work at all because of medical limitations, he or she may receive temporary total disability (TTD) benefits. The benefits usually are some percentage of the pre-injury average weekly wage of the injured employee and are intended to make the employee whole financially until he or she is medically capable of performing some kind of work.

Permanent Partial Disability Benefits

If the worker has a permanent impairment but is nevertheless still capable of working, he or she will be paid permanent partial disability (PPD) benefits. What is paid is determined by the degree of impairment and how it will impact the future earning ability of the worker.

Duties of Employer in Providing Light-Duty Employment

The instant the physician releases the employee to work with limitations, then the employer will have to decide whether or not they will accept the limitations. Light duty work will have to be within the limitations of the physician and will not create undue hardship to the injured employee.

The employers who give modified work schedules have to see to it that the work remains within the employee’s physical limit and all adjustments necessary are addressed. If an acceptable work schedule is not provided by the employer, the employee still has a right to claim wage replacement benefits until the time when the employee is able to return to normal duties or the employee is re-employed.

Employee Rights and Responsibilities

Workers who come back to work within restrictions do possess some rights which will not make them get bullied into performing duties beyond medical restrictions. If the employer is attempting to bully the worker into performing work duties beyond restrictions, then the worker would need to go over this issue with his treating doctor and his representative in workers’ compensation.

Additionally, employees are required to follow the recommendation of their physician and work under limitations. Disobedience of medical orders or refusal of rightful work for no good reason will impact their entitlement to ongoing benefits.

Challenges of Returning to Work With Limitations

It is never simple to go back to work after an injury at work, especially if work restrictions are keeping an employee from performing his or her normal work. Some of these issues are:

Going back to a replacement job task or altered tasks
Facing resistance from employers in altering restrictions
Facing uncertainty about long-term vocational results of permanent restrictions
Facing conflict about wage replacement benefits

Where unreasonable refusal of work limitations by an employer, or where employee benefits are unilaterally reduced or withheld, legal counsel can be obtained to enforce the rights of the employee.

Obtaining Legal Counsel for Workers’ Compensation Claims

Workers’ compensation can become difficult to manage when the body has an impairment, particularly if controversy is present regarding wage replacement benefits or vocational rehabilitation. Injured workers who are having a problem with their claim can be assisted by making a call to a veteran workers’ compensation attorney. The use of an attorney can be of value in that it will ensure that workers are receiving benefits that they are entitled to and protect their rights at the same time.

If you haven’t been able to obtain workers’ compensation for your on-the-job injury and are experiencing difficulty with your claim, contact an attorney and find out about your options. Protecting your rights and acquiring the benefit to which you are entitled is in the best interest of recovery and financial health.