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Light Duty in Kansas

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Is an employer obligated to put an employee on light duty in Kansas, if no appropriate work is available?

Several court cases have addressed the topic of light duty, but there is no Kansas or federal law on the subject. A number of regulations, however, have been enacted by the U. S. Department of Labor.

The bottom line is that a company isn’t required to put an employee in a light duty position, or create a light duty position. If a company has 40 hours a week of light duty work, then it usually places the worker in that position, but it doesn’t have to.

Companies normally treat these requests according to existing company policies and to precedents from previous requests. That means that in a similar situation, the company will act in a similar manner. It is important that all employers treat all requests equally and fairly. Showing preference to one group over another can open the company to charges of discrimination.

Some companies have policies that prevent employees on light duty restriction from working at all. The policy was enacted out of fear that if the employee continues to work, he or she could be injured further. These policies are usually legal as long as applied fairly and evenly.

If a company doesn’t have a light duty position, or if policy prohibits it, then the worker may have to stay at home until the restriction is lifted. Contrary to what a lot of employees think, light duty does not mean getting paid for doing only a little work, or for not working at all.

Not all positions lend themselves to light duty. A warehouse worker required to lift packages of 50 pounds or more may have to stay at home if a light duty position isn’t available. On the other hand, a secretarial position may conform to light duty requirements because the work is performed sitting all day at a desk.

Disable employees are the exception. The ADA, Americans with Disabilities Act, mandates that companies must make reasonable accommodations for a worker with a disability. A reasonable accommodation might be providing a special phone for a worker with a hearing impairment. JH