Getting Through Your Divorce and on With Your Life

Injured On The Job? The Process Of Returning To Work

25 September 2019

Celina Henry

If you were injured on the job, and have an active worker's compensation case going on, you shouldn't just show up to work when you feel like it. When you are undergoing medical care for an injury, you need to be carefully evaluated before you return to work to make sure that you are ready to return to work and to set the conditions under which you can return to work. 

Get Medical Clearance

First, you are going to need to get medical clearance for going back to work. If you are still healing from a surgery, you are not going to get clearance. For example, if you were told you need to rest and recover for four weeks following a surgery, you shouldn't be trying to go back to work two weeks later. You need to have medical clearance before you go back to work. 

Get a Physical Therapist Evaluation

Next, you need to be evaluated by your physical therapist. Every job is different, and just because you completed the basic recovery time for your injury doesn't mean that you are ready to go back to work.  

The job of the physical therapist will be to identify the meaningful tasks that you perform for your job. This will require collaboration with your employer. Then, they will need to figure out if you can do those tasks, and may even evaluate you doing those tasks 

Then, your physical therapist will create a return-to-work program that outlines the work that you can and cannot do. It is common to return to work with limits on your work. 

Inform Your Work of Doctor's Guidelines

Once you have been evaluated, all that information has to then be shared with your work, boss, and supervisors. If you have a return-to-work program or limitation in place, they have to be informed of this information, and in many cases, they need to sign documentation acknowledging this information. 

Then, they have to follow those guidelines. If you are asked to do something you are not cleared to do, you can tell your boss that you are not cleared to do that work. If it continues to be an issue, you can contact your attorney and have them speak up on your behalf.  

When it comes to returning to work after an injury, you should always do so under doctor's orders, and you need to follow all the doctor's rules on what work you are allowed to do. Continuing to follow doctor's orders is important to the success of your workers compensation claim. If you have questions about the return to work process, consult with your workers compensation attorney.  

Share

Search