What is Medium Duty Work Limitation?
Medium duty and light duty work limitation are types of modified or restrictive job duties which can be offered to an employee who is injured on the job or elsewhere. The goal is to have the employee perform medium duty work until he can return to his regular job. There are benefits to both the employer and the employee in choosing medium duty work limitation over temporary disability.
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Identification
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Medium and light duty work limitations usually are applied in manufacturing and construction jobs which require significant physical activity. If the employee's regular job requires a lot of heavy lifting, for instance, medium duty might restrict lifting to 20 pounds or less, while light duty would prohibit any lifting. A person who does significant physical labor in the regular job might be able to perform a medium duty job of standing at a palletizing machine and pulling levers, or, for a light duty job, to sit and work at an assembly area. The employee might also be able to work half-time instead of full-time for awhile.
Process
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The employer provides the worker's doctor with a detailed statement describing the medium-duty tasks, so the doctor can decide if the work is appropriate. If the physician approves it and the employee then declines this job, any disability benefits likely will be terminated. If she accepts the job, she'll work medium duty work limitation until the doctor approves going back to her regular position.
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Company Viewpoint
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Employees generally are expected to accept medium-duty work offers, unless the physician verifies that the tasks might make symptoms worse. For the employer, medium-duty work reduces lost-time days and keeps worker's compensation rates lower. Additionally, companies would rather not be providing continuing health insurance benefits to workers who are not working.
Employee Viewpoint
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For various reasons, workers prefer medium-duty work opportunities rather than take time off, and often ask for these opportunities if the company doesn't make the offer. Disability payments are lower than a regular paycheck, and sometimes the employee must continue working in order to maintain the full benefit package. Additionally, workers typically prefer to return to the job quickly rather than have their workplace friends accuse them of "milking the system."
Job Refusals
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Sometimes, however, an employee refuses medium-duty work, and then the insurance company must decide whether temporary disability benefits should be suspended. Additional circumstances may factor in. For example, an employee probably would not have to accept work at a facility that requires a much longer commute, and might not have to accept a job with a change to a different shift.
Significance
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The longer workers are out on disability, the less likely they are to ever return to work. According to a Hartford Life Insurance Co. representative in an article published in BestWire in 2003, after 6 weeks of disability, only about half of injured workers ever return to work. After a full year of disability, only 1 to 2 percent of injured workers ever return.
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