Section 7-137. RETURN TO WORK PROGRAM

 

137.1 On a monitored, progressive basis, the Program may direct claimants with temporary or partial disabilities to participate in a modified work program designed to provide consistent and appropriate assistance to claimants to return to work quickly and safely.

 

137.2 Claimants must have the appropriate medical release from their treating physician to perform modified duty. The medical release must include any specified restrictions and their anticipated duration.

 

137.3The Program shall attempt to place injured claimants within their pre-injury agency, or within another agency when modified work assignments are not available within the pre-injury employment agency.  Once assigned to a modified duty placement, the pre-injury employment agency is responsible for the salary of the claimant.

 

137.4 The modified duty assignment may have a minimum duration of two (2) basic non-overtime workdays and a maximum duration of one-hundred eighty (180) days (assigned in ninety (90) day increments) in any twelve (12) month period.  For those claimants whose basic non-overtime workday may exceed eight (8) hours, the basic non-overtime workday shall be the shift, or tour of duty, worked on a regularly recurring basis for the three (3) months immediately preceding the injury.

 

137.5 A claimant who is able to perform the duties of his or her pre-injury position during the modified duty assignment period is entitled to receive compensation at the same rate of pay as received prior to the injury.

 

137.6 A claimant who is not able to perform the full scope of duties of his or her pre-injury position shall receive a modified rate of compensation closest to the rate prior to the injury, without exceeding it. A partial disability benefit will be applied if appropriate, at the rate of sixty-six and two-thirds percent (66 2/3%) or, if the claimant is eligible for augmented pay pursuant to section 2310 of the Act, seventy-five percent (75%) of the difference between the pre-disability rate and the modified duty rate.

 

137.7 The pre-injury rate of pay shall not be exceeded during the modified duty assignment.

 

137.8If a claimant is offered a modified duty assignment and elects not to accept the modified duty assignment, the Program shall terminate the claimant’s benefits.

 

137.9The Program shall advise the claimant orally and in writing of the available temporary modified duty assignment, including the location and hours of the assignment, the essential job functions, the restrictions specified by the physician, and the rate of compensation to be received by the claimant.  This same information shall be shared orally and in writing with the human resources advisor of the claimant’s pre-injury employment agency and the agency where the claimant is being assigned, if different from the claimant’s pre-injury employment agency. 

 

 

authority

Chief Risk Officer of the Office of Risk Management (ORM), Executive Office of the Mayor, pursuant to the authority set forth in section 2344 of the District of Columbia Government Merit Personnel Act of 1978 (CMPA), effective March 3, 1979 (D.C. Law 2-139; D.C. Official Code § 1-623.44 (2012 Supp.)); section 7 of Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 2003 for the Office of Risk Management, effective December 15, 2003; and Mayor’s Order 2004-198, effective December 14, 2004

source

Final Rulemaking published at 59 DCR 8766, 8807 (July 27, 2012).