HOME/GLOSSARY/LIGHT-DUTY / RETURN-TO-WORK
GLOSSARY TERM

Light-duty / return-to-work

Work offered after an injury that fits medically supported restrictions, often using modified tasks, hours, equipment, or duties.

Light-duty or modified work is part of the post-injury workers' compensation process, not an owner-exemption concept. A treating clinician may identify work restrictions, and an employer may be able to offer work that stays within those restrictions.

California's Division of Workers' Compensation explains that transitional work can include changed tasks, equipment, schedules, or assignments and that work outside the treating doctor's restrictions is not part of an appropriate return-to-work offer. State benefit and return-to-work rules vary.

OFFICIAL SOURCE

Where this definition comes from

Glossary entries are anchored to a state agency, statute, board, commission, or recognized workers' compensation authority rather than a generalized summary.

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