What Happens After a Full Duty Release in Pennsylvania?

A “full duty release” is a document that you might receive telling you that you are healed up and well enough to go back to work.  The full duty release usually comes from your doctor, whereas other notices might instead come from the employer/insurance carrier after the doctor tells them about their decision.  When you get a release, what happens next?

At first, nothing happens – you will keep getting your benefits until the court changes or terminates them.  Talk to a lawyer about the potential petition that might be filed against you, especially if you do not actually feel ready to return to work.  There may be steps we can take to challenge these kinds of medical decisions if you still aren’t well enough to return to work.  If you do want to get back to work, then we will have to talk to your employer, get the case before a judge, and see about how to wind down your benefits.

For a free case assessment, call Cardamone Law’s Certified Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Lawyers today at (267) 651-7945.

“Full Duty Release” vs. a “Notice of Ability to Return to Work”

When you are on Workers’ Comp and see a doctor, they might give you a “release,” which is essentially their medical permission for you to return to work.  This could come as a light duty release, which says that you are well enough to go back to working with modified tasks.  A full duty release says that you are ready to go back to work at 100%.

You may want a release if you are anxious to get back to work.  Workers’ Comp should pay for your medical benefits all the way through your care, even after you are “ready” to return to work, assuming you still have follow-up appointments and care needs.  However, your wage-loss benefits will be 2/3 of your lost wages while you are fully unable to work or 2/3 of the difference between pre- and post-injury wages while you are able to work partially.  If you can get a light duty release or full duty release, it might mean getting back to work and getting wages higher than what Workers’ Comp pays while you are sidelined.

If you still don’t feel ready to get back to work, then a full duty release might be quite alarming.

A “Notice of Ability to Return to Work” is a pretty similar document, but rather than coming from a doctor, it comes from your employer or their insurance carrier.  This notice means that your employer received similar information from a doctor that you are able to return to work, and they are telling you that they know about it.

In either case, there are steps that have to be taken next before you can be made to go back to work – nothing happens immediately.

Do I Have to Go Back to Work Immediately if I Get a Full Duty Release in Pennsylvania?

If you get a full duty release, it might mean that you ultimately go back to work, but not immediately.  Before you can be made to return to work or kicked off your benefits, the insurance carrier/employer needs to file a petition to terminate your benefits with the Work Comp Judge handling the case.  Until this bureaucratic step can be taken, your benefits should keep coming.

This allows room for legal challenges and additional medical appointments to get evidence to use when challenging a petition to terminate benefits.  If you do want to get back to work, then a full duty release gives you leverage to talk to your employer about rehiring you if that is an option in your case.

Either way, nothing happens until the judge ends your benefits; the insurance carrier cannot cut you off or force you back to work without the judge’s permission.

Can I Challenge a Full Duty Release When Receiving Workers’ Comp in Pennsylvania?

One of the worst surprises in a Workers’ Comp case is when your doctor gives you a full duty release and says you are ready to return to work, but your body tells you the opposite.  If you still experience a lot of pain or your body still isn’t moving the way it is supposed to, your doctor’s analysis that you are ready to return to work might be wrong.  However, now that this medical evidence is out there saying that you should return to work, it can make it harder to fight to stay on benefits.

It is important to review a full duty release with your Allentown Workers’ Comp lawyers to see if we can contact the doctor and have them reconsider the release.  We may also be able to contact other physicians and have them review your condition to provide medical evidence that counters this conclusion.

In any case, a full duty release likely means a notice will be coming from your employer/insurance carrier and that a petition to terminate your benefits will be on its way after that.  That gives us a chance to go before a Work Comp Judge and address that petition before your benefits can be terminated, giving us an opportunity to fight to keep your benefits, change a full duty release to a light duty release, or negotiate rehiring.

Is a Full Duty Release Good?

A full duty release can be a good thing if you want to get back to work and you feel ready.  If you and the doctor agree you should get back to work, then you may be able to return to your job or a similar job and start making your full income again.  If you remain on Workers’ Comp, your wage-loss benefits will not increase for inflation or cost of living.  A full duty release after years of stagnant benefits might be a new lease on life.

However, if you are not ready to return to work, then a full duty release is likely the first step in a chain of events that might lead to you being kicked off benefits, and you should talk to a lawyer about how to challenge the eventual petition to terminate your benefits.

Call Our Workers’ Comp Lawyers in Pennsylvania

If you have received a full duty release, call our Bucks County workers compensation lawyers for a free case evaluation on the next steps by calling Cardamone Law at (267) 651-7945 today.