#229 Georgia Workers' Compensation Lawyer - What is light duty?

What is light duty? So, if you've been injured on the job, and you go see a doctor and the doctor says, you know, he can tell you one of three things. He can say I'm gonna take you out of work completely. That's pretty straightforward that means you can't work. You wanna get that work status report or excuse. And share it with your employer. Or two and this happens more often than not. He says, "You know you're injured" "I want you to stay off this leg." "Or you've hurt your back." "So, I don't want you lifting." "I don't want you standing for a long time." "I don't want you sitting for a long time." "I don't want you bending stooping kneeling etc." They make the decision. No lifting more than so much weight. All of that is called LIGHT DUTY. Light duty has many terms. It can be "light duty". It can be "limited duty". It can be "modified duty". It can be "sedentary duty". A lot of people don't understand that "sedentary duty" is also a form of "light duty". Any type of work where the doctor says, "I think you can go back to work but here are your restrictions." That is considered light limited or modified duty, for the record. The other or third thing that the doctor can say is, "I think you're full duty." "You can do everything you were doing beforehand." And so the three work statuses again; Out of work; Light duty; and then full duty. If they take you out light duty, then the question is you share that report with your employer. Can they accommodate your light duty restrictions? If they cannot, then you may be entitled to weekly checks. If they can accommodate your light duty work restrictions, then you likely should try to go back and see if you can perform that type of work. If you can't, well, then you need to contact and go back to the doctor's office. Let them know what aggravates the injury or what causes you problems on his form of life duty. And in theory, he's supposed to change those restrictions. Well, they have me sitting all day. Okay, well, I'm gonna limit your sitting to so many hours a day. Or stand and sit as is comfortable. That's what should happen. Does it always happen that way? No. But in a perfect world, that's what's supposed to happen. And then at some point, either condition gets better and your restrictions get heavier and heavier. Meaning the doctors goes from no lifting more than 5 pounds to 10 pounds to 25 pounds now you're at 50 pounds. Or you're allowed to sit longer, stand longer, whatever the doctor decides. But the idea is that you get the medical care you need to increase your light duty restrictions to some point be a full duty or to be a pretty heavy duty lifting. We've seen some where you can lift 50 pounds, no more than 50 pounds. Some jobs have lifting requirements much more than that. But typically, 50 pounds is pretty heavy work for most jobs. Maybe not construction. But in most jobs. And so, you might can get back at that point and do your full time job. It just depends. But like duty is that gray area. You know what happens when you're out of work completely. You know what happens when you're full duty. You just going right back to work. Light duty is that gray area,  where the doctor will say, "Don't want you doing this, don't want you doing that..." And then the employer has to decide, "Do we want you to come back?" "Do we have a job for you with those restrictions?" If they do you're likely gonna go back, if they don't, then you're likely going home. And the question is "How long are you gonna be on those light duty restrictions?" That's gonna be up to the medical providers that see you and treat with you. Sometimes it's physical therapy involved but usually it's what's called your authorized treating physician that's the doctor in the workers compensation claim that will make the determination of your work status, and make the determination, if you need further care, if you need diagnostic testing, so forth. That's why choosing the right doctor can be a real critic