Light Duty Job Offer Letter for an Injured NEMT Driver: Dispatch, Phones, and Other Work While They Heal

A driver who hurts a back or a shoulder on the job often cannot lift or drive for weeks, but can still answer a phone, confirm tomorrow’s rides, and keep the manifest straight. This page gives you the letter that offers that work in writing: the tasks, the hours, the pay, the place, and a line to accept or decline, all inside the limits on the doctor’s work status report. States and forms call it light duty, modified duty, alternative work, or suitable employment. It is one letter here. The state programs that pay part of the wages during light duty are in the workers’ comp guide, so this page does not repeat them.

How to use this template

1. Get the limits in writing first. Ask the doctor for the work status report. Texas has its own, DWC Form-073 (revision 09/19), with boxes for lifting, standing, sitting, hours a day, and “no driving/operating heavy equipment.” A note that only says “light duty” is not enough. OSHA lets you ask the doctor whether the employee can do all of their routine job functions and work their normal full shift (29 CFR 1904.7(b)(4)(vii)).
2. Match each task to each limit. Fill in Parts 1 and 2. If the report limits driving, or warns that medicine may cause drowsiness, keep the employee out of the van, including moving it around the yard. Lifting a rider’s chair, loading a cot, and helping a rider transfer are all work the report may rule out, so see passenger transfers for the lifts a driver does on an ordinary day.
3. Train before the first login. Phone and dispatch work puts rider names, addresses, and appointments in front of the driver. HIPAA training for NEMT staff covers what to teach, and the dispatcher checklist shows what a day at the board involves.
4. Call your adjuster before you send anything. The Texas return to work guide tells employers to coordinate with the claims adjuster, so the insurer knows about the offer and every requirement is met. In Georgia, the employer completes Form WC-240, so ask the adjuster who files what. California’s state offer forms belong to a permanent disability benefit, so ask the claims administrator which notice your file needs while the worker is still healing.
5. Fill in Part 3 and attach the work status report. Texas and Georgia both require the doctor’s report to travel with the offer. The letter’s table covers the items Texas and Georgia ask for: duties, location, hours, pay, and the physical demands.
6. Send it so you can prove the date. Texas treats a mailed offer as received 5 days after mailing. Georgia wants its form in the employee’s hands, and their lawyer’s if they have one, at least 10 days before the return date. Hand delivery with a signed receipt, or email plus mail, leaves a record.
7. Give a reply date. Part 4 is the employee’s answer. In Texas, the offered wages count as the employee’s earnings from the day they reject the offer or the seventh day after they receive it, whichever comes first, so a reply date inside that week matches the rule. Ask your adjuster what clock your state or your insurer uses before you write the date.
8. Update the letter when the doctor does. A new work status report means a new Part 1 and a new letter. End light duty in writing, with the date and the report that releases the driver to regular work.
9. Record it. File the letter, the report, and Part 5 with the driver’s injury record, and count the restricted days for your OSHA log, as explained below. The employee injury report form holds the rest of the file.

The template

Part 1: The doctor’s limits and how the job fits them

Limit on the work status report	What the report says	How the offered work stays inside it
Lifting and carrying (pounds, hours a day)
Standing and walking
Sitting
Bending, twisting, pushing, pulling
Reaching, gripping, typing
Driving or running equipment
Hours a day and rest breaks
Medicine that may cause drowsiness
Other limits
Limits end or doctor reviews on (date)

Work status report dated: ______________ Doctor: ______________________________

Received by us on: ______________ Copy attached to the letter: yes ____ no ____

Part 2: Tasks to offer

Task	Offered (yes or no)	Fits the limits in Part 1 (initials)
Trip confirmation calls
Reminder calls to riders
Trip intake and data entry
Dispatch support: watching the board and calling drivers
Checking trip logs and signatures
Answering the office phone
Filing and paperwork
Cleaning vans without lifting
Other

Part 3: Offer letter

[Your company letterhead]

Date: ______________

To: ______________________________ (employee’s name and address)

Date of injury: ______________ Claim number: ______________

Insurer or adjuster: ______________________________ (name and phone)

Dear ______________:

We are offering you temporary work while you recover from your work injury. The work is inside the limits your doctor wrote on the work status report dated ______________. A copy of the report is attached.

Term	Details
Job title for this temporary work
What you will do (the tasks marked in Part 2, attached)
Where you will work
Days and hours
Pay rate, and how and when you are paid
Date and time to start, and who to report to
Physical and time requirements (sitting, standing, lifting, hours a day)
Training we will give you
How long we expect this work to last, and when we will review it

We will assign you only tasks that fit your physical abilities, knowledge, and skills and the limits in the attached report, and we will train you for them. If your doctor changes your limits, give us the new report the day you get it, and we will change your tasks to match.

[If the work involves rider information:] This work puts rider names, addresses, and appointment details in front of you. Before you start, we will train you on how to protect that information, and we will keep a record of the training.

We do not punish anyone for reporting an injury or filing a workers’ compensation claim.

To answer, sign Part 4 and return it to ______________ by ______________ (date). If you have a question, or cannot take this work, call ______________ at ______________ before that date and tell us why, so we can try to fix it.

Sincerely,

______________________________ (name, title, and phone)

Attachments: work status report dated ______________; task list (Part 2)

Part 4: Reply from the employee

Check one:

• ____ I accept this offer of temporary work. I understand it is inside my doctor’s limits, and that I will give my employer any new report the day I get it.
• ____ I cannot accept this offer because: ______________________________________________
• ____ I have questions. Please call me at ______________ before ______________ (date).

Employee name: ______________________________

Signature: ______________________________ Date: ______________

Received for the company by: ______________________________ Date: ______________

Part 5: Your file copy

Item	Entry
Work status report date, and how it was received
Adjuster told and approved the offer (name and date)
Date and way the offer was sent (hand, mail, email)
Date the employee is treated as having received it
Reply due date
Reply received: accept, decline, or no answer, and the date
First day of light duty
OSHA log: first day of restricted work or job transfer
Restricted days counted so far
Date of each new work status report, and what changed
Light duty ended on, and why
Release to regular duty: report dated

What Texas, Georgia, California, and Florida say about the offer

Rules differ by state, and the form your insurer wants may differ again. These four show the range as of October 2026. For any other state, ask your adjuster for its form and its clock before you send the letter.

Texas

If you carry workers’ comp in Texas, 28 TAC 129.6 says a modified duty offer must be in writing, in the form and manner the Division of Workers’ Compensation prescribes, with a copy of the work status report it relies on. It must also state five things:

• The location where the employee will work.
• The schedule.
• The wages.
• A description of the physical and time requirements of the job.
• A statement that you will assign only tasks consistent with the employee’s physical abilities, knowledge, and skills, and will provide training if necessary.

The insurer may treat the offer as bona fide when it holds written copies of the report and the offer, the job location is geographically accessible, the offer matches the doctor’s certification of work abilities, and the offer carries every item above. To judge access, the insurer must at least consider how the employee’s limits affect travel, the distance, the availability of transportation, and whether the schedule is like the one before the injury.

The wages you offer can be treated as post-injury earnings from the earlier of the day the employee rejects the offer or the seventh day after receiving it, unless the treating doctor tells the carrier the offer conflicts with the restrictions. A mailed offer counts as received 5 days after mailing. The state’s guide says that if an injured employee refuses a written bona fide offer, the carrier may reduce or suspend benefits, and it reminds employers that the Texas Workers’ Compensation Act (Chapter 451) bars discrimination against an employee for filing a claim.

Georgia

Georgia has a Board form for this, WC-240, Notice to Employee of Offer of Suitable Employment (revision 7/2021), which says O.C.G.A. 34-9-240 and Board Rule 240 require it. The employer uses it to notify the employee of a job suitable to their condition, and must provide the form and all attachments to the employee and the employee’s lawyer at least 10 days before the employee is expected to return. You file it with the Board only as an attachment to a Form WC-2.

The form asks for the job title, essential duties, rate of pay, location, hours and days, and the date and time to report. The report of the authorized treating physician approving the job as suitable must be attached. By signing the certificate of service, the employer states that the physician examined the employee within 60 days of the approval attached and that the offer is made in good faith.

The form tells the employee what a refusal costs. If they unjustifiably refuse to attempt the job, or attempt it for less than eight cumulative hours or one scheduled work day, whichever is greater, the employer or insurer may suspend income benefits from the day they were to report. If they attempt it but fail to continue for 15 scheduled work days, benefits start again at once. The Board also lists Form WC-240a, a job analysis (2018). For questions, the Board’s number is 404-656-3818, or 1-800-533-0682.

California

California’s state offer forms belong to the supplemental job displacement benefit. It is a permanent disability benefit, so it comes up after temporary disability payments end or a doctor reports permanent partial disability, not while a worker is still healing. The forms are DWC-AD 10133.35 for injuries on or after January 1, 2013, and DWC-AD 10133.53 for injuries from January 1, 2004 through December 31, 2012. The claims administrator, meaning an insurance company, a third party administrator, or the employer, completes the top of the form.

The employee has 30 calendar days from receipt to accept or reject. If they do not answer in 30 days, or reject the offer, they lose the benefit unless the offer is for modified or alternative work and one of four things is true: they cannot perform the essential functions of the job, the job is not a regular position lasting at least 12 months, the pay and compensation offered are under 85 percent of what they earned at the time of injury, or the job is beyond a reasonable commuting distance.

For injuries on or after January 1, 2013, the Division of Workers’ Compensation says the benefit is owed when the employer does not offer suitable regular, modified, or alternative work within 60 days from the claims administrator’s receipt of a medical report finding permanent partial disability (page dated March 2023). For light duty while a worker is still healing, send the Part 3 letter and let your claims administrator tell you what the file needs.

Florida

Florida Statutes 440.15(6) (2026) says that if an injured employee refuses employment suitable to their capacity, offered or procured, they are not entitled to any compensation while the refusal continues, unless a judge of compensation claims finds the refusal justifiable. The statute names no form, so the letter and the doctor’s report are your proof that the work was suitable and offered.

What the federal rules add

OSHA: restricted days go on your log

If you keep OSHA injury records, restricted work is a recordable case. Work is restricted when you keep the employee from one or more routine functions of the job, or from working the full workday they were scheduled for, or when a doctor recommends it (29 CFR 1904.7(b)(4)). Routine functions are the activities the employee does at least once a week.

• A driver who still drives but cannot lift is on restricted work if lifting is something they do weekly.
• A worker who produces less but does every routine function for the full shift is not on restricted work.
• A partial day counts as a day of restriction or transfer, except the day of the injury.
• Count calendar days, including weekends and days off, starting the day after the injury. You may stop at 180.
• The restriction counts even if the employee ignores it. If a doctor recommends one that meets the definition and the worker does their whole job anyway, you must still record the case, and you should make sure they follow the restriction.
• You may stop counting if you permanently move the employee to a modified job that removes the routine functions they were barred from, but you count at least one day.

OSHA also bars firing or in any way discriminating against an employee for reporting a work injury (29 CFR 1904.35), and you keep the log, the privacy case list, the annual summary, and the injury reports for 5 years after the calendar year they cover (29 CFR 1904.33). A company with 10 or fewer employees at all times last year keeps no log (29 CFR 1904.1). The OSHA guide explains who counts, and the injury report form has a place for the restricted days.

The ADA and pregnancy

The ADA covers employers with 15 or more employees (42 U.S.C. 12111). EEOC guidance dated September 3, 1996 answers the light duty questions directly. You may create light duty positions for work injuries, but you must apply that policy without discrimination, so you cannot refuse one because the injury caused a disability. You need not create a light duty job for an off-the-job injury, but you must provide other reasonable accommodations, and if you keep light duty jobs for work injuries, a vacant one must be considered for an employee with a disability when nothing else works and it causes no undue hardship. Having no other open light duty job does not by itself prove undue hardship.

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act reaches the same employers. Its regulation, effective June 18, 2024, lists placement in a light duty program as a possible accommodation (29 CFR 1636.3(i)), and its guidance in Appendix A says that holds even when the program is normally for work injuries. You may not force leave when another accommodation works (29 CFR 1636.4(d)). Appendix A uses a delivery driver with a 30 to 40 pound lifting limit as an example. A pregnant driver can ask in any words, to a supervisor or anyone who directs their work, and the request need not use medical terms (29 CFR 1636.3).

FMLA

If you have 50 or more employees for each working day in 20 or more weeks this year or last (29 CFR 825.104), an eligible driver’s workers’ comp absence may also count as FMLA leave. When the doctor then clears the driver for light duty only, the regulation says the employee is permitted but not required to accept it. They may lose workers’ comp payments but can stay on unpaid FMLA leave until they can return to the same or an equivalent job, or until the 12 weeks run out (29 CFR 825.702(d)(2)). Ask your adjuster and a lawyer how your state’s comp rule and FMLA fit together before you tell a driver they must come back.

Rider privacy

Where HIPAA applies to your company, it requires training of each new workforce member within a reasonable time after joining, as necessary and appropriate for their functions, with the training documented (45 CFR 164.530(b)). The HIPAA training guide explains when it applies. A driver who has had your driver training may not have seen the rules for answering a rider’s call or reading a manifest on a screen. Repeat the parts that fit the new tasks, and keep the dated record with the driver’s file.

Help paying for light duty

Washington’s Stay at Work program reimburses part of the wages for state fund employers who provide an approved light duty job. As of October 2026, its page says an attending provider must approve the written job description, and calls a job offer letter a best practice but not a requirement. Texas runs a return to work reimbursement for small employers: up to $5,000 a year per employer for workplace changes such as equipment or tools, for employers with 2 to 50 employees on each business day of the preceding calendar year and workers’ comp in effect now and on the date of injury, subject to the funds available (DWC008, revision 04/10). Washington’s amounts and the Oregon program are in the workers’ comp guide.