Return to Work Calculator

This calculator compares a worker's functional capacity evaluation (FCE) result against the physical demand level of their job to help occupational health providers and employers plan a return-to-work pathway after injury or illness. The job demand levels used here — sedentary (occasional lifting under 10 lbs), light (10-20 lbs), medium (20-50 lbs), and heavy (50-100 lbs) — follow the physical demand classification originally developed by the US Department of Labor for the Dictionary of Occupational Titles and still widely used in vocational rehabilitation and disability evaluation today (via the Selected Characteristics of Occupations reference and its successors). The calculator translates each demand level into an approximate functional-capacity threshold a worker needs to meet for unrestricted full duty, then compares the worker's actual functional capacity against that threshold to generate a Recommendation (Not Ready, Modified Duty, or Full Duty) along with practical restrictions — a lifting limit scaled to both the worker's functional capacity AND the job's own DOL weight class (so the same functional capacity score yields a different recommended limit on a sedentary vs. a heavy job), plus a maximum daily hours figure — a case manager can use as a starting point for a written modified-duty plan.

The chronicity risk estimate reflects a genuinely important, well-documented pattern in occupational medicine: workers who are off work for extended periods, particularly beyond about 6-12 weeks, have measurably lower rates of ever returning to work, which is why time off work, pain level, and low functional capacity are all treated as risk factors here rather than time off work alone. This calculator's specific formulas for the functional-capacity thresholds, weeks-to-full-duty estimate, and chronicity risk score are this tool's own decision-support model, not a validated clinical instrument or a specific published guideline — it's meant to structure a conversation between the worker, employer, and treating clinician, not to replace an individualized functional capacity evaluation or a physician's return-to-work determination.