Being a Staffing Firm, we had an employee hurt his back. MD gave him mild work restrictions, but our Client doesn't want him back. So, now we are faced with a dilemma...

1. the employee was driving 8 miles to the job, but should/ can we offer him modified duty in our office, which is 60 miles away (120 mile roundtrip) to avoid a lost time injury. Is this considered reasonable? In the Los Angeles area.

2. Can we just pay him regular pay until his follow up MD visit, in 2 days, and let him go if MD gives him clean bill of health, assuming we don't have another job for him. Again, to avoid a lost time injury.

3. Do you have any other options for me?

Thank you in advance!

Brook

I haven't lived in California since 1993, but I would say that, in the metropolitan areas, a 60-mile one-way commute MIGHT be considered unreasonable. Depending upon where you are, that could be up to 2 hours drive each way. Just my $.02, you understand.

Can you reassign this employee to another job? If the restrictions are fairly minor I wouldn't think it would be an issue.

Is there a reason this client doesn't want him back? Is he no longer capable of performing the duties?

You can offer light duty to avoid a TT claim. Whether 60 miles is reasonable or not is very hard to say. I'd be speaking to the carrier and legal counsel to see what their take is. Going strictly by my state's standards, it would depend on what is a reasonable commuting distance for the area. Where Patty and I are now, 60 miles is not unusual. I would look at where the employee said they would be willing to work as well. While that isn't a true test of what the Commission will find reasonable, it does help your case if he said he would be willing to work throughout the area not just in the town where he currently resides.

I'm not sure why you would go with #2. You would pay out less as a lost time claim than paying his straight salary outright. There just isn't an advantage to doing this except for the employee. It does set a very expensive precedent though. For OSHA and WC purposes, it is still a lost time claim whether you pay for the time off or not.

If he gets released and you don't have work for him, he isn't eligible for TTD. He would have to be off because of the injury, not because there isn't an assignment for him.