Light Duty – one more quick thought

One more quick thought on light duty. If you have a Washington L&I claim, your attending medical provider must review and approve a specific light duty job description before the employer can make a bona fide offer of a light duty job. It has to be in writing, and must be for a specific position or specific job duties. It is not enough for your employer to call you and say, ‘come on into work, and we’ll figure out something light duty for you to do’.
Your employer is not required to offer you temporary or transitional light duty work. It may be in their best interest to do so, but not all employers see it that way. When an employer does make an offer of transitional light duty work, we need to make sure the attending physician has approved a specific written job description.  This reduces the possibility of confusion or miscommunication about what restrictions are in place and what job tasks can safely be performed.