A bona fide offer of employment is a statutory tactic that an employer or carrier can use to cut off temporary income benefits.  This is nothing more than an offer to let an injured worker return to work at light duty.  The employer promises to abide by the claimant's doctor's restrictions.  If the claimant returns to work on light duty, she can earn her wages and temporary income benefits would not be owed.  If the injured worker does not accept the offer of returning to work on light duty, then the Texas workers' compensation insurance carrier can suspend temporary income benefits if the offer meets the requirements of Rule 129.6.  The reason the adjuster is able to cut off TIBs is because the carrier is then allowed to say that the claimant was able to earn the offered wages despite her injury, so the carrier can pretend like the claimant has earned those wages when calculating the amount of benefits that are owed.  This is allowed under the law.

You see, in the above scenario, the reason the injured worker was not able to earn her pre-injury wage was not because of the work injury.  The employer offered to accomodate any restrictions that existed as a result of the work injury.  The reason the claimant didn't earn her pre-injury wages was due to some reason other than the work injury, or at least that is how the argument goes.

Injured workers who are able to work should return to work.  After all, the system exists, in theory, to expedite this process.  Injured workers who can return to work on light duty and earn their full wages are going to be better off financially than those that do not.  After all, Texas work comp benefits are less than what the worker earned prior to the injury.

Because disability is defined as the inability to earn the pre-injury wages because of the work-related injury, then why a person is not earning those wages matters.  If it is because of the injury, then the work comp carrier owes benefits.  If it is not because of the injury, then the work comp carrier does not owe benefits.

Last week I handled one of these cases where the offer of light duty employment was made by the adjuster.  The letter was written on the insurance company's letterhead, signed by the adjuster.  It offered a light duty position with the employer.  The judge agreed with me:  Rule 129.6 requires that an offer be made by an employer in order to be a bona fide offer of employment.  Because this offer was made by the adjuster and not the employer, the judge ruled it was not bona fide so the carrier could not cut off benefits.

That argument required analyzing Rule 129.6 closely.  The lesson, though, from that case is that an offer of light duty must come from the employer, not the adjuster.  While it is probably okay if the adjuster mails it for the employer, the actual offer of employment must be extended by the employer.

If you get an offer of light duty from your employer following a work injury, it is a very serious thing.  It can significantly affect your benefits.  You should consult an attorney and your treating doctor immediately to determine the best course of action prior to accepting or declining the light duty offer.