Light Duty and Work Restrictions in a New York Comp Claim

The short version: you generally cannot refuse a suitable offer without consequences, and you generally should not accept work that exceeds your restrictions. Most of the difficulty lies in the word "suitable".

What happens to your benefits when you go back part-way

While you are totally unable to work, comp pays cash benefits based on two-thirds of your average weekly wage, capped at a statutory maximum reset each July.

When you return at reduced hours or reduced pay, you move to reduced earnings benefits. These pay two-thirds of the difference between your pre-injury average weekly wage and what you are able to earn now — so returning to work does not simply switch the benefit off. It replaces part of the shortfall. A great many injured workers do not know this and assume any return to work ends their payments, which makes them resist a return that would have been to their advantage.

To be paid correctly, the reduced earnings have to be documented with the Board. Keep every pay stub from the light duty period.

Refusing an offer: what "labor market attachment" means

If your employer offers work within the restrictions your own treating doctor has written, and you decline it, the carrier will ordinarily move to suspend or reduce your benefits. The reasoning is that your lost earnings are no longer caused by the injury.

If the employer has no work within your restrictions, or offers nothing at all, you remain entitled — but with a condition attached. Where you have a partial disability and are not working, you are generally expected to demonstrate attachment to the labor market: that you are genuinely looking for work you could actually do. That means a documented search — applications, dates, employers, responses — or participation in a recognized job placement or retraining program. Benefits are suspended for want of a documented search more often than for any medical reason.

When the "light duty" offered is not light duty

This is the common and infuriating scenario. The restriction says no lifting over ten pounds and no prolonged standing; the job offered involves lifting boxes and standing for a shift. Or the offer is real for three weeks, after which the old duties quietly come back.

Do not simply refuse, and do not simply endure it. Both are worse than the alternative.

• Get the offer in writing, with the actual tasks, hours and physical demands described. An employer reluctant to put it in writing is telling you something.
• Take it to your treating doctor and ask them to address that specific job against your restrictions, in the record. A doctor's written opinion that the offered work exceeds your capacity is what makes a refusal reasonable rather than a forfeiture.
• Report the mismatch in writing if the work drifts back to full duty, and keep the copy.
• Do not work through it silently. Performing the full job while injured undermines both your medical case and your credibility, and it can make an injury permanently worse.

The insurer's doctor, and why the paperwork matters

The carrier is entitled to have you examined by a physician of its choosing. That report frequently concludes that you have a mild partial disability and can return to work with modest restrictions — often before your treating doctor agrees. The Board weighs the competing opinions, and what makes your treating physician's opinion carry weight is specificity: what you cannot do, in what terms, for how long, supported by findings.

If your restrictions become permanent and the injury is to a limb, hearing or vision, the next stage is a schedule loss of use award — our schedule loss of use calculator shows how the statutory formula turns a permanency percentage into weeks of benefits.

Vague restrictions lose. "Light duty" written on its own is nearly useless. Ask your doctor for limits stated concretely — weight, duration, posture, repetition — and make sure the medical reporting forms are actually filed after each visit, because an opinion that never reaches the Board does not exist as far as the record is concerned.

If there is also a third-party claim, this cuts both ways

If someone other than your employer contributed to the injury, you may have a separate personal injury claim, and that is the only one that can compensate pain and suffering — see workers' comp versus personal injury.

Returning to light duty does not damage that claim. Refusing reasonable work sometimes does, because a defendant is entitled to argue you failed to mitigate your losses. Conversely, a documented light duty history — the restrictions, the accommodations, the tasks you could no longer perform — is often the clearest evidence of what the injury actually cost you. Surveillance is also routine in these cases, and a claimant photographed doing what their restrictions exclude has a serious problem in both forums at once.

How we handle work injuries is on our workers' compensation page.

Common questions

Can I refuse light duty in New York?

You can, but if the work is within the restrictions your doctor has written, the carrier will normally move to suspend your benefits. A refusal is defensible when your treating physician has documented that the specific job exceeds your capacity.

Do my benefits stop if I return to work part-time?

No. Reduced earnings benefits pay two-thirds of the difference between your pre-injury wage and what you can earn now, so a partial return reduces rather than ends the payments.

What if my employer has no light duty available?

You generally remain entitled to benefits, but with a partial disability you will usually be expected to show you are looking for suitable work. Keep a dated, written record of every application and response.

The job I was offered exceeds my restrictions. What do I do?

Ask for the duties in writing, take them to your treating doctor, and have the doctor address that job specifically in the medical record. Do not refuse without that, and do not perform work beyond your limits.

Does going back to light duty hurt my injury case?

No — and refusing reasonable work can hurt it, because a defendant may argue you failed to mitigate. A documented record of restrictions and accommodations usually helps show what the injury genuinely cost you.

This page is general information about New York law. It is not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship with Davidov & Cohen Law. To talk about your own situation, tell us what happened.