The Return-to-Work Path
DOL states that an injured employee who is medically able to return to work is expected to return when work is made available within established restrictions. The medical evidence therefore becomes the bridge between treatment and the workplace.
“Light Duty” Is Not a Medical Restriction
Useful restrictions describe what the employee can actually do: lifting, carrying, pushing, pulling, standing, walking, sitting, reaching, repetitive activity, hours per day, environmental limits, or other medically necessary restrictions. DOL identifies CA-17 as a common form for communicating restrictions, while OWCP-5 forms may be used to define work limitations in greater detail.
CA-17 GUIDEOWCP-5c GUIDECompare the Offer to the Restrictions
When an agency says work is available, the employee should make sure the treating physician understands the actual duties. DOL's procedure manual directs employees to provide the physician with a description of an available alternative position and obtain the physician's response.
What Will You Actually Do?
Look beyond the job title. Identify lifting, standing, walking, repetitive use, reaching, driving, concentration, environmental exposure, and other actual demands.
How Long and When?
Compare the offered hours and schedule with any medically supported limits on hours per day, breaks, or progression back toward full duty.
Where Is the Work?
Commuting area and location can matter in suitability and vocational placement analysis.
Is There Wage Loss?
Returning to modified work may eliminate wage loss or create partial wage loss, which can lead to a wage-earning-capacity issue.
Temporary or Continuing?
Temporary light duty and a position intended to represent ongoing wage-earning capacity can raise different procedural issues.
Within Every Restriction?
The position should be evaluated against the restrictions that represent the weight of the medical evidence—not assumptions about what the employee “should” be able to do.
When “Suitable Work” Becomes a Serious Compensation Issue
Can the Employee Perform It?
Suitability begins with work capacity. OWCP evaluates the position in light of the medical restrictions representing the weight of the evidence.
- Restrictions and capabilities should be sufficiently specific.
- New or changed medical evidence should address the actual offered duties.
- Unrelated medical conditions can also be relevant to OWCP's suitability analysis under its procedures.
Is the Position Suitable?
OWCP also considers vocational and practical factors. FECA requires a partially disabled employee to seek and accept suitable employment when available.
- The work must be medically suitable.
- OWCP considers qualifications and relevant employment factors.
- A refusal of employment found suitable under §8106(c)(2) can jeopardize compensation.
The Formal Suitable-Work Process Has Stages
Under OWCP's current procedure, when OWCP finds a specific offer suitable and the claimant does not accept it, OWCP provides notice of the suitability determination and an opportunity to respond. If the claimant's reasons are found unacceptable, OWCP then provides a final 15-day opportunity to accept the position before issuing a formal §8106(c) decision. Do not confuse this formal process with every ordinary modified-duty discussion or temporary light-duty assignment.
Return to Work Does Not Always Mean the Claim Is Over
Full Duty
If the medical evidence supports full recovery and the employee resumes the date-of-injury position, wage-loss entitlement generally ends for the period worked.
Modified Duty — Same Pay
An employee may work permanently within restrictions at no current wage loss. OWCP may later evaluate whether the position fairly and reasonably represents wage-earning capacity.
Modified Duty — Lower Earnings
When injury-related restrictions result in lower actual earnings, partial disability and loss-of-wage-earning-capacity rules may become relevant.
WAGE LOSS CENTERVocational Rehabilitation Can Become the Next Path
OWCP emphasizes return to the previous employer first. When permanent injury-related restrictions prevent return to the date-of-injury job and appropriate placement with the agency is not achieved, OWCP may provide vocational rehabilitation services aimed at suitable employment.
Why Did the Employee Stop Working?
A failed return to work can lead in several directions. The reason matters.
Medical Worsening
If the accepted condition worsens and causes renewed disability, the medical record should document the change and why the employee can no longer perform the position.
MEDICAL EVIDENCENew Work Event
If a new incident or new employment exposure caused the work stoppage, the issue may be a new injury rather than recurrence.
CLAIM ROADMAPJob / Adjustment Problem
If the problem is the offered duties, schedule, agency implementation, or another non-medical issue, document what actually occurred and distinguish it from medical inability to work.
DECISIONS & APPEALS