Yes, your employer can require you to attempt physician-approved light duty under Georgia’s WC-240 process, and you must give it a genuine try (eight cumulative hours or one scheduled workday) or risk having your benefits suspended. The law also protects you: notice must arrive at least 10 days before your return date, and your doctor must have examined you within the prior 60 days. If you cannot continue after working more than 15 scheduled days, your benefits come back automatically. Save every document, attempt the job in good faith, and tell your doctor exactly how it goes.

TL;DR:

  • Employers must serve a properly completed WC-240 form at least 10 days before the return date, including detailed job duties, pay, hours, and medical approval.
  • An attempt to work requires performing duties for at least eight hours or one full scheduled day within your medical restrictions, with documentation of symptoms and employer confirmation.
  • Benefits can be suspended if you refuse a valid light-duty offer without justification or fail to make a genuine effort, risking a swift benefit loss.
  • Keeping thorough records—such as signed notices, medical approvals within 60 days, symptom logs, and witness accounts—can be decisive in disputes.
  • Filing a hearing request with the workers’ compensation board is advisable if benefits are suspended unjustly, and most disputes are resolved through procedural compliance rather than sympathy.

Table of Contents

What Light Duty Means Under Georgia Workers’ Compensation Law

Georgia’s rules on light-duty work come from a single statute and its companion regulation: O.C.G.A. §34-9-240 and Board Rule 240. Together they set the terms under which an employer can offer you “suitable employment” while you recover, and what happens if you say no.

The statute allows suspension of your benefits if you refuse suitable work without justification. Board Rule 240 fills in the procedure: the employer must use Form WC-240, attach your authorized treating physician’s approval, and serve it correctly. That approval has to rest on an exam performed within the prior 60 days, not an old chart note. You’re also entitled to at least 10 days’ notice before the reporting date, which gives you and your attorney time to review the offer before you’re expected to show up.

What Must Be On the WC-240 Notice

A WC-240 isn’t valid just because it lands in your mailbox. The form itself has to spell out specific details, and missing pieces can undercut the employer’s position later.

Check the notice for:

  • Essential job duties, described specifically enough to compare against your medical restrictions
  • Rate of pay for the light-duty position
  • Scheduled hours and days you’re expected to work
  • Reporting location and start date/time
  • Written approval from your authorized treating physician, attached to the form

The notice must also go to you and your attorney at least 10 days before the return date. Keep a copy of everything, including the physician approval page. If a dispute lands in front of the State Board of Workers’ Compensation later, that paperwork is your evidence.

How to Attempt the Job the Right Way

Georgia law defines an “attempt” in concrete terms: eight cumulative hours or one full scheduled workday. That’s the threshold. Show up, perform the assigned duties within your medical restrictions, and let the record show you tried.

Here’s how that plays out in practice:

  1. Report at the time and location stated on the WC-240.
  2. Perform the listed duties, staying within the limits your doctor documented.
  3. Note any pain, fatigue, or symptoms as they happen, not days later.
  4. Ask a supervisor to confirm in writing if you have to stop early.
  5. Keep your own time log alongside the employer’s records.

If you work more than 15 scheduled days and then genuinely can’t continue, your weekly benefits must be reinstated, and the burden shifts to your employer to prove otherwise.

Pro Tip: Keep a same-day symptom diary on your phone. A note timestamped the moment your back seized up carries far more weight at a hearing than a memory reconstructed six months later.

Hands holding phone recording symptoms

What Happens if You Refuse or Fail to Attempt

Refusing a valid light-duty offer, or walking off before making a genuine attempt as defined by law, gives your employer an administrative remedy. They can file a WC-2 along with the WC-240 to suspend your weekly benefits, and that suspension can take effect quickly.

Once benefits are suspended, the practical burden shifts to you to show the refusal was justified, whether because the job exceeded your restrictions, the physician approval was defective, or the notice didn’t meet the 10-day or 60-day requirements. Employers can also pursue reimbursement or seek an interlocutory order locking in the suspension while the dispute plays out. If you believe the suspension was wrongful, you have remedies: demand reinstatement in writing, and request a hearing before the Board if the employer won’t budge.

A Practitioner’s Checklist for Protecting Your Benefits

Most light-duty disputes turn on paperwork, not persuasion. The employees who come out ahead are the ones who documented everything from day one.

When a WC-240 arrives:

  • Save the original notice and every attachment
  • Confirm the physician’s approval is dated within the last 60 days
  • Check that the reporting date is at least 10 days out
  • Copy your attorney or note the date you’d want one involved

While you’re working the light-duty job, log your hours, save supervisor emails or texts, photograph any accommodations that weren’t provided, and write down witness names if a disagreement happens on the floor. Go back to your treating physician the moment symptoms flare, and ask for written restrictions updated on the record, not verbal reassurances.

Pro Tip: If your supervisor verbally changes your duties beyond what the WC-240 lists, ask for it in an email that same day. A verbal change with no paper trail is nearly impossible to prove months later.

Hands typing email on smartphone

If you’re contacting an attorney, bring the WC-240, your medical records, pay stubs from before and after the injury, and any written communication with your employer about the offer.

When to Request a Hearing at the SBWC

If your employer suspends benefits and you disagree, you can file a request for a hearing with the State Board of Workers’ Compensation. Either side can also file Form WC-102D to request an interlocutory order, a faster ruling meant to suspend or reinstate benefits while the full case is pending.

Bring your authorized treating physician’s reports, a copy of the job description or job analysis, your attendance and time records, your symptom log, and any written exchanges with your employer about the offer. The Board weighs whether the job matched your medical restrictions and whether the notice met the procedural requirements. Contact information and filing guidance are available through the SBWC’s Bill of Rights, which also confirms you don’t need a lawyer to file a claim, though most contested light-duty disputes benefit from one.

Clearing Up Common Misunderstandings

Light duty doesn’t have to pay the same as your old job. Georgia’s rule cares whether the work matches your medical restrictions, not whether the paycheck matches your prior wage. If the rate is lower, you may still qualify for partial wage-loss benefits.

Don’t confuse this process with the ADA’s reasonable accommodation requirement. That’s a separate federal framework with its own standards. Workers’ comp suitability under Board Rule 240 turns on whether your authorized treating physician approved the specific duties, not on broader accommodation obligations an employer might owe under disability law. In most disputes we see, the outcome comes down to procedure: did the WC-240 meet the notice and approval requirements, and did the employee attempt the job as the rule defines it.

Why Procedural Precision Decides Most Light-Duty Disputes

Light-duty fights rarely come down to who’s more sympathetic. They come down to whether a form was served on time, whether a physician’s signature was current, and whether an employee logged an attempt instead of just remembering it. That’s the pattern we see again and again in these cases: the injured worker who wins isn’t necessarily the one who tried hardest physically, but the one who built a paper trail.

At The Jewkes Firm, engagement on a light-duty dispute typically starts with a review of the WC-240 itself, checking every notice and approval requirement against the statute. From there, we work on developing the medical record, representing you if the case goes to a hearing, and negotiating a resolution that reflects your actual restrictions. Bring your WC-240, medical records, and pay history to a consultation if you want a clear read on where you stand.

— Ali

Talk to The Jewkes Firm About Your Light-Duty Offer

The Jewkes Firm gives South Atlanta workers something a WC-240 form doesn’t: someone who reads it line by line before you report to a job that could hurt your claim.

Jewkesfirm

We offer a free consultation, and we work on contingency, so you pay nothing unless we win your case. Bring the WC-240 notice, your medical records, and any pay stubs from before and after your injury. We’ll review whether the physician approval and notice timing meet Georgia’s requirements, help build the medical record if the job doesn’t match your restrictions, and represent you if the dispute heads to a hearing before the State Board of Workers’ Compensation. If a light-duty offer already cost you benefits, or you’re not sure whether to attempt one, reach out to The Jewkes Firm before your response deadline passes.

This article is general information, not a substitute for advice from a qualified lawyer. Consult a qualified legal professional about your own circumstances before acting on anything here.

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