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✦ Certified Specialist in Workers’ Compensation Law — Certified by the State Bar of California, Board of Legal Specialization ✦
Serving injured workers across California. Board-certified specialist; no fee unless we win.
By Eman Yazdchi, Esq. · Certified Specialist in Workers' Compensation Law, State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization
In California, an injured worker offered light duty or modified work must consider the offer carefully — accepting can end temporary disability, while refusing without cause can end it too. Yazdchi Law, a Certified Specialist in Workers' Compensation Law firm, handles California modified-duty disputes statewide. Request a free case review.
A California "light duty" or "modified work" offer is a written or verbal offer from the employer to bring the injured worker back to a job that fits the worker's medical restrictions while the worker is still recovering. The decision the worker makes about that offer — accept, reject, or negotiate — has direct consequences for the temporary disability checks under California Labor Code §4653, the eventual Supplemental Job Displacement Benefit voucher under California Labor Code §4658.7, and the trajectory of the entire claim.
The California rule is that a worker who refuses a bona fide offer of modified or alternative work that fits the work restrictions loses entitlement to ongoing temporary total disability indemnity. The flip side is just as important: an offer that is not bona fide — that violates the medical restrictions, that puts the worker at risk of re-injury, or that is structured to pressure the worker to quit — does not extinguish the worker's right to continuing TTD. The line between a real offer and a manufactured one is often the entire fight.
Yazdchi Law represents California injured workers on modified-duty disputes statewide, from a home office at 1125 W Avenue M-14 in Palmdale with regular appearances at the Van Nuys, Bakersfield, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Pomona, San Bernardino, Riverside, and Oxnard WCAB district offices. Eman Yazdchi is a Certified Specialist in Workers' Compensation Law, certified by the California Board of Legal Specialization, State Bar of California.
The mechanics of a California light-duty decision involve the treating physician's work restrictions, the employer's offer, the workers' compensation insurer's TTD payments, and — when the case is permanent and stationary — the Supplemental Job Displacement Benefit voucher. Each component connects to a specific California Labor Code section, and the worker's options change depending on which stage of the claim the offer arrives.
A bona fide California light-duty or modified-work offer fits the work restrictions the treating physician (or QME or AME) has issued, is at a worksite reasonably accessible to the worker, pays a wage reasonably comparable to the pre-injury wage, and is genuinely available — not a paper offer designed to be refused. A "make-work" offer that has the worker sitting in a corner with no real tasks is not bona fide. An offer that violates a single restriction (a 10-pound lifting limit when the job requires 30) is not bona fide. The case law tests these factors substantively, not just on paper.
Under California Labor Code §4653, temporary total disability indemnity is paid at two-thirds of the worker's average weekly earnings while the worker cannot return to the pre-injury job. If a California worker is offered and accepts modified work at a wage lower than the pre-injury wage, the insurer pays temporary partial disability (the wage-loss difference) rather than TTD. If the worker refuses a bona fide modified-work offer, TTD typically ends. If the offer is not bona fide and the worker refuses, TTD continues — and an unreasonable termination of TTD on a non-bona-fide-offer basis is itself a candidate for a California Labor Code §5814 25% penalty.
Under California Labor Code §4658.7, a California worker who cannot return to the pre-injury job and is not offered regular, modified, or alternative work within 60 days of the permanent-and-stationary date is entitled to a Supplemental Job Displacement Benefit voucher worth up to $6,000 for training, tuition, books, or computer equipment. A bona fide modified-work offer within the 60-day window extinguishes the voucher. A non-bona-fide offer does not. Whether the voucher is owed often turns on the same evaluation that determines whether the offer was real.
Under California Labor Code §132a, a California employer that terminates, demotes, cuts hours, or otherwise harms a worker because the worker filed or intends to file a workers' compensation claim is liable for reinstatement, lost wages, a $10,000 increase in compensation, and costs up to $250. Modified-duty disputes can produce retaliation patterns — sudden post-injury performance write-ups, sudden assignment to a punitive shift, sudden elimination of a job position right after a worker raises a medical-restriction concern. The §132a petition is filed at the WCAB alongside the underlying claim.
Injured at work? Call (661) 273-1780
Tap to call →California modified-duty disputes are heard at the WCAB district office nearest the worker's home or worksite. The WCAB operates 24 district offices statewide. Yazdchi Law appears at the Van Nuys, Bakersfield, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Pomona, San Bernardino, Riverside, and Oxnard districts. The Division of Workers' Compensation publishes the procedural rules and the relevant guidance documents.
Frequent disputes include: an offer that ignores the lifting restriction in the QME report; an offer that puts the worker on a punitive shift the worker never previously worked; an offer at a distant worksite that effectively forces a quit; an offer the employer rescinds days after the worker accepts. Each of these creates leverage — for the worker who documents contemporaneously, for the California Labor Code §4653 TTD continuation, and for the California Labor Code §5814 penalty when the insurer cuts off TTD without cause.
Yazdchi Law P.C., 1125 W Avenue M-14, Suite A, Palmdale, CA 93551. (661) 273-3939. Free consultations on California workers' comp modified-duty disputes statewide. Workers' compensation attorney fees are contingent and set by the WCAB under California Labor Code §4906 — nothing owed unless the case recovers. Eman Yazdchi, Esq., is a Certified Specialist in Workers' Compensation Law, certified by the California Board of Legal Specialization, State Bar of California.
Last reviewed by Eman Yazdchi, Esq., May 2026.
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