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Light duty sits at the centre of more Georgia workers’ compensation disputes than almost any other issue, because it directly affects whether your checks keep arriving.
The concept is reasonable: if you cannot do your normal job but can do something, the employer offers modified work within your restrictions.
The friction comes from whether the offered work genuinely fits those restrictions — and the consequences of getting that judgement wrong are immediate.
If you return to light duty at your full pre-injury wage, wage-replacement benefits generally stop, though you remain entitled to medical treatment and potentially to a permanent partial disability award later.
If light duty pays less than your pre-injury wage, you may be entitled to temporary partial disability benefits covering roughly two thirds of the difference.
If you refuse a suitable offer, the insurer can move to suspend benefits entirely. That is the outcome to avoid.
The job must fall within the restrictions your authorised treating physician has set. Those restrictions are the reference point, not the employer’s or the insurer’s view of what you can manage.
In Georgia the offered position is generally described in writing and approved by the treating physician before it is presented. That approval is what makes it enforceable.
Suitability can also involve practical factors — location, shift, and whether the role is genuine work rather than a position created purely to end benefits.
This happens often. An approved job description says one thing and the actual work involves more lifting, standing or repetitive motion than approved.
The correct response is not to simply stop showing up. Attempt the work if it is safe to do so, document specifically what tasks exceed your restrictions, and report it to your employer and your treating physician immediately and in writing.
Georgia provides a mechanism for attempting light duty and stopping if you genuinely cannot perform it, with benefits potentially reinstated — but that protection depends on following the process rather than walking off.
Employers occasionally offer roles that are technically within restrictions but practically punitive — long solitary shifts, tasks with no real function, or assignments designed to encourage resignation.
Resigning generally forfeits benefits, which is why that pressure exists. Document the conditions rather than quitting.
Note too that light duty interacts with maximum medical improvement: restrictions that become permanent after MMI shift the analysis from temporary accommodation to permanent work capacity.
You can, but refusing a suitable offer approved by your treating physician can result in suspension of your benefits. If you believe the job exceeds your restrictions, raise that specifically and in writing rather than simply declining.
Document exactly which tasks exceed your restrictions and report it to your employer and treating physician immediately and in writing. Georgia allows for attempting light duty and stopping where you genuinely cannot perform it — but the process matters.
You may be entitled to temporary partial disability benefits, generally covering about two thirds of the difference between your pre-injury wage and your light duty earnings.
It depends on the restrictions your physician sets, which can limit hours as well as physical tasks. If the schedule exceeds what was approved, that is a restriction issue to raise with the physician.
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