What this is
What is a modified duty plan?
What is a modified duty plan?
A modified duty plan sets out the temporary, altered duties a worker performs while a medical restriction is in force. It is agreed between the supervisor, the worker and occupational health once restrictions have been issued, and it stays in place for as long as the restriction does, which may be a fixed period or open-ended.
Who decides what counts as modified duty?
The supervisor proposes tasks against the recorded restrictions, occupational health confirms they fit the medical advice, and the worker is consulted on whether the arrangement is workable. A plan drafted without the worker routinely misses the parts of the job that are awkward rather than prohibited.
How is a modified duty plan different from a graduated return plan?
A modified duty plan is a static accommodation: it holds a worker at a fixed set of altered tasks for as long as the restriction lasts. A graduated return plan is a phased schedule that deliberately increases hours and duties over defined stages toward full normal work. The two are often used together, a graduated plan starting once modified duties show the worker can sustain them.
Scope
When is a modified duty plan required?
A modified duty plan is the accommodation instrument for a worker still under restriction. Its boundary with the next template is time: once the intention becomes progressively increasing hours and duties rather than holding them steady, the governing record changes.
Use this template when
- A medical restriction has just been issued and duties need to be identified before the worker returns
- The worker is capable of some tasks now but the restriction is not expected to change on a defined schedule
- An existing modified duty arrangement needs its tasks, hours or supervisor updated
- A Suitable Duties Register entry needs to be assigned to a named worker for a stated period
- You are running the Return to Work programme and modified duty is the step this case has reached
Do not use it for
- Graduated Return Plan, used once the intention becomes a phased, time-bound increase in hours and duties rather than holding at a fixed level
- Work Restriction Record, which records what the worker can and cannot do and for how long, and is the source this plan's duties must be checked against
- Suitable Duties Register, the catalogue of pre-approved tasks a site can draw on, rather than the individual plan for one worker
- Return to Work Programme Plan, which sets the site's overall approach, roles and timescales rather than one person's duties
- Return to Work Interview, which records the conversation on return from any absence, not the ongoing duty arrangement
Compliance mapping
Which WCB return to work guidance requirements does this satisfy?
There is no single instrument that governs modified duty by name. It sits at the intersection of workers' compensation return to work guidance, which expects genuine and suitable work, and the wider occupational health and safety management system, which expects the arrangement to be planned, consulted on and reviewed like any other control.
| Clause | Requirement | Where it lands |
|---|---|---|
| WCB early and safe return to work guidance | Suitable duties identified within the medical restrictions and agreed collaboratively before return | Duties |
| WCB early and safe return to work guidance | Duties assigned must be genuine, productive work rather than tasks created to occupy the worker | Header |
| ISO 45001 cl.5.4 | Consultation and participation of the worker in decisions affecting their health and work arrangements | Duties |
| ISO 45001 cl.8.1.2 | Consideration of the hierarchy of controls, including equipment or aids that reduce risk on modified duties | Practicalities |
| Human rights and duty to accommodate legislation | Terms of the accommodation, including pay, explained to the worker before it begins | Practicalities |
| WCB early and safe return to work guidance | A defined review point rather than an open-ended arrangement, with a route to increase hours | Progression |
| ISO 45001 cl.7.4 | Communication to those affected, calibrated to what they need to know rather than the medical detail | Practicalities |
What it does not cover
- Work Restriction Record, the medical determination of what the worker can and cannot do, which this plan must be checked against rather than substitute for.
- Graduated Return Plan, needed once the arrangement is meant to progress through phases toward full hours and duties rather than hold steady.
- Suitable Duties Register, the site-wide catalogue of pre-approved tasks that this plan draws individual duties from.
- Occupational Health Case Record, which holds the clinical case detail and medical correspondence, not the duty arrangement.
- Claim Support Record, which tracks the workers' compensation claim itself, separate from what the worker is doing at work.
Global
Modified Duty Plan requirements by country
The duty to consider modified work is close to universal, but the instrument enforcing it differs sharply: a compensation board scheme in one place, a disability discrimination duty in another.
Provincial Workers' Compensation Board early and safe return to work programmes
Employers are expected to identify suitable, genuine modified work and cooperate actively in the return to work process.
Failing to offer available modified duty can affect claim costs and, in several provinces, is a distinct legal obligation separate from the compensation claim itself.
Americans with Disabilities Act; state workers' compensation light duty provisions
Reasonable accommodation must be considered through an interactive process once a worker discloses a qualifying restriction.
No single modified duty standard exists; the obligation runs through disability law rather than a dedicated statute, and policies vary by employer and state.
Equality Act 2010, duty to make reasonable adjustments
An employer must make reasonable adjustments where a disability puts the worker at a substantial disadvantage.
A modified duty plan is one form reasonable adjustment can take, and a tribunal will look at whether alternatives were genuinely considered, not just whether one was offered.
How to complete it
How to complete a modified duty plan, step by step
The template will hold whatever tasks are typed into it. What decides whether the plan is a genuine accommodation or a document produced to close a file are the judgement calls that happen before it is filled in.
Every task should trace back to a line on the linked Work Restriction Record and, ideally, a Suitable Duties Register entry. A duty chosen for being easy to assign rather than for fitting the restriction is the plan's most common latent defect.
The template scores duties as genuinely useful, partly useful, or obviously made up, and that third category should read as a stop rather than a low score. An assessor should be able to explain, in one sentence, why the task exists independently of the accommodation.
A restriction expected to ease over a known period is usually better served by a graduated plan with defined phases than by modified duty renewed indefinitely. Recording that the choice was considered protects the plan from drifting into a permanent light duty role nobody intended to create.
The next review date matters less than what would bring the plan back sooner: a change in the restriction, a change in the task, or the worker raising a concern. A plan reviewed only on its stated date runs unchanged through problems that should have shortened it.
What auditors find
Most common modified duty plan findings
Modified duty plans are usually written. What an audit or a claim review tends to find is a gap between the plan on paper and the work actually being done.
| Finding | Clause | What fixes it |
|---|---|---|
| Duties assigned do not correspond to any line on the linked Work Restriction Record. | WCB early and safe return to work guidance | Cross-check each duty against the restriction record before signing, and record the line it satisfies. |
| Duties scored as obviously made up but the plan proceeds unchanged. | WCB early and safe return to work guidance | Treat a made-up duty as a stop condition; source a genuine task from the register or escalate. |
| Worker consultation field marked yes with no evidence of what was discussed or agreed. | ISO 45001 cl.5.4 | Record what the worker raised and how the plan responded, not just that a conversation happened. |
| Plan has run well past its stated review date with no reassessment. | WCB early and safe return to work guidance | Link the review to the restriction's own review point so the plan cannot outlive its medical basis. |
| Team briefed with more detail than the field's guidance allows, disclosing the medical reason. | ISO 45001 cl.7.4 | Restrict team communication to what colleagues need to support the arrangement, not why it exists. |
| A restriction with an expected easing date managed as indefinite modified duty rather than moved to a graduated schedule. | WCB early and safe return to work guidance | Reassess at each review whether a graduated plan now fits the medical trajectory, and record the decision either way. |
Case in point
Case in point: the plan that never asked when
A warehouse worker recovering from a shoulder injury was placed on a modified duty plan covering light sorting and administrative support, agreed within a week of the restriction being issued. The worker was consulted, the duties were genuinely useful, and the arrangement was reviewed every eight weeks exactly as scheduled, with the same conclusion each time: continue as is.
Fourteen months later a case audit asked a question nobody had: why was a shoulder restriction, originally expected to ease within three months, still managed as a fixed accommodation over a year on. Occupational health confirmed the worker had been fit for progressively more physical work for most of that time, but no review had asked whether hours should increase, because the review question each time had been whether the plan still worked, not whether it should change.
The template
The template, field by field
The form exactly as it installs. Every field, option, score and conditional rule is editable, and the links to other templates come with it.
6 sections
- Reference
- HLT-018
- Archetype
- Plan
- Record ID
- MDP-2026-000
- Scoring
- Not scored
- Direction
- n/a
- Singleton
- No
- Basis
- WCB return to work guidance
- Links
- Links Worker, Job, Restriction
- Tags
- Health, Case
- Sections
- 6
- Fields
- 38
- Follow up fields
- 0
- Repeating sections
- 1
- Links out
- 5
Header
12 fieldsPlan ID*
Auto sequence. Format MDP-2026-000.
The record's own ID. Other templates point at this value.
Status*
Drives who this goes to next.
- Planned2 pts
- In progress2 pts
- Complete3 pts
- Deferred0 pts
- Open0 pts
- Closed3 pts
- Overdue0 pts
Date and Time*
Completed By*
Site*
Site ID*
Format SITE-000.
Links to FDN-001 Site ID
Worker*
Person ID*
Format PER-0000.
Links to FDN-003 Person ID
Real Work, Not Made Up Work
Modified duties that are obviously invented undermine recovery and the person's standing with the team. Find genuinely useful work within the restrictions.
Case ID
Thread key
Restriction Record ID*
Links to HLT-017 Record ID
Plan Start*
Duties
5 fieldsTask
Job ID
Format JOB-000.
Links to FDN-004 Job Task ID
Duties Within Restrictions Identified*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Duties Are Genuinely Useful*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- Obviously made up0 pts
Worker Consulted On Plan*
- Yes3 pts
- No0 pts
Modified duties
Repeats5 fieldsTask*
Hours Per Day
Within Restrictions*
- Yes3 pts
- Marginal1 pt
- No0 pts
Training Required
Supervisor For This Task
Progression
6 fieldsPhased Increase Planned*
- Yes3 pts
- Not needed3 pts
- No0 pts
Starting Hours Per Week
Target Full Hours By
Progression Steps Defined*
- Yes3 pts
- No0 pts
Review Points Set*
- Yes3 pts
- No0 pts
Next Review Date*
Related records
1 fieldSuitable Duties Register ID
The register the duties were drawn from.
Links to HLT-061 Register ID
Practicalities
9 fieldsTeam Briefed Appropriately*
What they need to know to support the person. Nothing about why.
- Yes3 pts
- Too much shared0 pts
- Nothing shared1 pt
Pay And Terms Explained*
- Yes3 pts
- No0 pts
Equipment Or Aids Provided
- Yes3 pts
- Not needed3 pts
- No0 pts
Worker Comfortable With Arrangement*
- Yes3 pts
- Some concerns1 pt
- No0 pts
Any Concerns Raised
Case Manager*
Signature*
Worker*
Second Signature*
HLT-018 · record IDs look like MDP-2026-000 · Links Worker, Job, Restriction
Open in KnowellaRun it with agents
From a document you fill in to a programme that runs itself
The plan itself is straightforward to write. What tends to slip is noticing when the medical picture has moved on and the plan has not moved with it.
Holds the modified duty plan against the linked restriction record and register entry, and flags plans running past their review date.
Watches restriction reviews and case progress records for signals that a static plan should now be reconsidered as a graduated one, and raises it rather than waiting for the calendar.
Connects any training a modified duty requires to the person's record, so an assigned task does not outrun the competence behind it.
This template lives in KnowHealth — employee wellbeing. Exposure monitoring, health surveillance, case management and return to work.
Meet KnowHealth→Glossary
Modified Duty Plan definitions and key terms
- Modified duty
- Work altered from a person's normal role to fit a medical restriction, held at a fixed level rather than progressively increased.
- Suitable duties
- Genuine, productive tasks that exist independently of the accommodation and can be verified against a role or register entry.
- Early and safe return to work
- The compensation board framing under which employers must identify suitable work and cooperate actively in a worker's return.
- Duty to accommodate
- The legal obligation, from disability or human rights legislation in most jurisdictions, to adjust work so a restricted worker can perform it.
- Restriction
- A medically determined limit on what a worker can do, recorded separately and referenced by the modified duty plan rather than restated in it.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about modified duty plan
Can a modified duty plan run indefinitely?+
Yes, if the restriction itself is indefinite. What should not run unchallenged is the assumption behind it. Every review should ask whether the restriction has changed, not only whether the arrangement is still working.
What makes a modified duty genuinely useful rather than invented?+
It exists independently of the accommodation: someone would assign it, or a version of it, to any suitably able worker. A task created because someone needs something to do fails this test even if harmless, because the worker and colleagues can tell the difference.
Do we need the worker's agreement, or just their input?+
Both matter, but agreement is what is checked. The template records whether the worker was consulted as a required field, and a plan implemented over the worker's objection is far harder to defend if later challenged.
When should a modified duty plan become a graduated return plan instead?+
When the restriction is expected to ease on a known timescale and the intention shifts from holding steady to building back up. Renewing modified duty past that point produces an accommodation that looks static while the medical picture has moved.
How much should the team be told about why the arrangement exists?+
Only what they need to work alongside the person: the adjustment, not the diagnosis. The template scores oversharing as a failure on the same field as undersharing.
Who should sign off equipment or aids for modified duty?+
Whoever confirmed the restriction, in practice occupational health, confirms any aid is adequate; the supervisor confirms it is actually in place before the worker starts, not promised for later.
Keep going
Related templates and programmes
Industries this is written for
Programmes this belongs to
Used together in Return to Work
Occupational Health Case Record
Records and tracks a health case from first report through to closure
Work Restriction Record
Records what a worker can and cannot do while recovering, and for how long
Case Progress Review
Reviews how a health case is progressing against its expected timeline
Case Closure Record
Closes a health case, recording the outcome and any lasting restrictions
Claim Support Record
Records the information provided to support a workers compensation claim
Absence Trend Review
Reviews absence patterns by area, shift and cause category to find where work is making people ill
More in Return to Work
Work Restriction Record
Records what a worker can and cannot do while recovering, and for how long
Return to Work Interview
Records the conversation on return from any absence, covering fitness, adjustments and whether work contributed
Return to Work Programme Plan
Sets out how the site brings people back to work after injury or illness, covering triggers, roles, timescales and the duties that are actually available
Stay at Work Record
Keeps somebody at work on adjusted duties instead of signing them off
Return to Work Referral
Opens a return to work case and gathers what is known so far about the absence, the person and their job
Return to Work Meeting Record
Records the meeting between the worker, their manager and occupational health where the return is agreed
Written and reviewed by
Siddarth Singh
Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Knowella
Certified Safety Professional and industrial and systems engineer with more than a decade inside food supply chain, freight and manufacturing operations. This page was written against the current text of the standards it cites, not against secondary summaries of them.
- Certified Safety Professional (CSP), Board of Certified Safety Professionals
- MBA, University of Chicago Booth School of Business
- MS and BS, The Ohio State University, Industrial and Systems Engineering
- Six Sigma Black Belt
Sources and last review. Reviewed 16 August 2026 against:
- Provincial Workers' Compensation Board early and safe return to work guidance (Canada)
- Americans with Disabilities Act, reasonable accommodation and the interactive process (US)
- Equality Act 2010, duty to make reasonable adjustments (UK)
- ISO 45001:2018 clauses 5.4, 7.4 and 8.1.2
This page is general guidance, not legal advice. Confirm requirements with your jurisdiction’s regulator.