When an employee who has been injured on the job wants to return to work, it can be beneficial to both you and the worker to consider a light-duty assignment. Light-duty positions can keep the employee productive and help reduce workers’ comp costs. But modifying job duties can also present logistical problems and create new risks-such as the possibility that an injured or ill employee who has not fully recuperated may suffer a new injury after returning to work.Regardless of whether you have a policy of offering light-duty positions to injured employees, it’s crucial to know the rules on when it might be required and how to do it right in order to minimize disputes. A new court decision deals with some practical problems that arise with light-duty assignments and provides guidance on when you must make them available.
Auto Workers Ask For Light-Duty
The case involved several production workers at a Subaru plant in Indiana. The employees all suffered from chronic repetitive stress and other work-related injuries, and all went out on disability leave. Subaru had a light-duty program that provided jobs at reduced wages for up to 90 days for employees with temporary disabilities. The injured workers asked Subaru to assign them to light-duty positions, but the company refused because their disabilities weren’t temporary. The employees also claimed they could perform other jobs that were being held by temporary workers and that those people should be bumped, but Subaru refused.
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Accommodation Duty Has Limits
The employees sued Subaru for violating the Americans with Disa- bilities Act, but a federal appeals court ruled against the employees.1 The court acknowledged that your duty to accommodate disabled workers can include reassigning them to other jobs they’re qualified for. But there are limits on how far you need to go in finding a new position for a disabled employee.
Bumping Not Required
The court said you do not have to transfer an employee-even a temporary one-to make room for another worker with a disability. The only exception is if the temporary worker is simply filling in while the regular employee is out on disability leave.
Disabled Worker Must Qualify
The court also ruled that you aren’t required to assign a disabled employee to a light-duty position if the person doesn’t meet the requirements of the job. In this case, the employees were capable of performing the functions of the light-duty positions. But because Subaru’s light-duty program was intended for workers recovering from temporary disabilities, the employees with permanent disabilities didn’t qualify. The court concluded that the ADA does not require an employer to change a legitimate, temporary light-duty program to accommodate em- ployees who are permanently disabled.
When You Have To Offer Light-Duty
Although the court’s ruling isn’t binding in California, it is based on the same federal ADA regulations that cover California employers with 15 or more employees. The basic rule is that if a light-duty job already exists and is available, and a worker who is permanently disabled under the ADA is qualified to perform it, you cannot refuse to offer it to the worker if it would “reasonably accommodate” that person. But this case suggests that if the employee fails to meet the valid eligibility criteria of your light-duty program, such as having a temporary disability, you probably don’t need to bend the rules for that person.
Practical Guidelines
Here are some guidelines for structuring a light-duty program to reduce the risk of problems:
- Design your program in advance. The Subaru case says that you’re not always obligated to provide a disabled worker with a light-duty assignment. But you must treat all employees consistently. Be sure to have a written policy regarding light-duty or temporary positions that covers employees with short-term disabilities, and specify exactly what the requirements are to participate. (Note that if an employee returns to work in a light-duty job, you don’t have to pay the same amount they received before being injured because you are allowed to pay lower rates for light-duty work.)
- Spell out time limits. Your policy should state the maximum time someone can remain in a light-duty job. Otherwise, an employee who is considered qualified for that position could remain there indefinitely.
- Consider ADA accommodation issues. The ADA accommodation rules apply to individuals who have serious, chronic problems-not temporary medical conditions. If the ADA covers an employee, you may have to offer the person a light-duty or alternative position if one is available and you don’t have an eligibility policy allowing only workers with temporary disabilities to hold such light-duty jobs. Alternatively, you may have to restructure the person’s original job, within reason, to eliminate non-essential functions the person can’t perform.
However, if no light-duty jobs are available, and the employee can’t perform the original position’s essential duties even with an accommodation, the person is not “qualified” to do the job and therefore not protected under the ADA.
- Obtain medical clearance. Before an injured employee comes back to work in the same or a mod-ified assignment, you can ask for a medical clearance verifying the employee’s functional abilities, limitations and work restrictions.