Employer Ignoring Light-Duty Restrictions After a Work Injury in Pennsylvania

Attorney Answer

Your restrictions are what the Workers' Compensation Act measures your work against. If your employer has work you can do within them, the act requires it to offer that work. If it does not, wage-loss benefits are the act's answer, not full duty. Whether you can refuse a particular assignment without risking your benefits or your job is the question to put to a Pennsylvania workers' compensation lawyer this week, before the next shift that goes beyond your restrictions.

The employer's duty. Section 306(b)(2) of the Workers' Compensation Act provides that if the employer has a specific job vacancy the employee is capable of performing, the employer shall offer that job to the employee. “Capable of performing” is what your doctor's restrictions define. A light-duty restriction that is ignored is not an offer of work within it.

What happens when there is no suitable work. The act pays wage-loss benefits when a work injury keeps you from earning what you did. That is the alternative the law provides to working beyond your restrictions.

First, find out where your claim stands. Under Section 406.1 of the act, the employer's insurer must investigate promptly. It must either begin paying within 21 days of notice of the disability, or tell you in writing, on the state's form, why it is contesting the claim. Whether your claim has been accepted shapes every next step.

Report the injury in writing, if you have not. Section 311 requires notice to the employer within 21 days, and bars compensation entirely without notice within 120 days.

What you can do

1. Give your written restrictions to your supervisor and to human resources, and keep a copy of what you handed over and when.

2. Keep the records that already exist: assignment sheets, patient counts, schedules and any messages about your duties.

3. Ask your employer for its workers' compensation insurer's name and your claim number.

4. If your pain or condition worsens, go back to the treating doctor and tell them what your assignments have been.

5. Speak with a Pennsylvania workers' compensation lawyer before refusing any assignment. Most offer a free first consultation.

⏱ Time limits apply. Notice of the injury is due within 21 days, and no later than 120 days, under Section 311 of the Workers' Compensation Act. Under Section 315, a claim is barred unless the parties agree on compensation, or a petition is filed, within three years of the injury.