was in a truck accident last year, have been off on disability since. have been relesed by doctors to return to work.how long should i wait to press the company to return me to work. home state is washington. to date the company has not given me any anwsers on when i can return to work.was told that risk management ,legal,safety and human resourses have to make decison weather i can go back to work. have not heard anything reguarding the accident from the company.

If you have been off work since last year, your employer has no legal obligation to return you to work at all. You are free to ask them, but your legal right to be returned to work expired at the beginning of your thirteenth week of leave.

then how should i proceed from here ? should i retain counsel?

Counsel? For what? No laws have been violated, based on your post.

You have three options:

1.) Do nothing and wait until they contact you
2.) POLITELY ask them to put you back to work (but you have no legal recourse if they refuse)
3.) Find other employment.

Your right to be returned to the same job, or any job, has long since expired. It is entirely up to the employer when to return you to work, or even if they return you to work. Retaining counsel would be a waste of money since your employer has no obligation to take you back at this point.

The above presumes that there is no legally binding contract in place that provides you with increased return-to-work rights.