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Defining Temporary Alternative Duty

To provide transitional or temporary alternatives to normal employment activities for employees who have been released to lighter duties than their current occupation requires.

TAD Components

  • Different Duties
  • Different Hours
  • Job Modification

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Temporary Alternative Duty: It's the Law

RSA 281-A:23-b

Alternative Work Opportunities

All employers with five or more employees shall develop temporary alternative work opportunities for injured employees. The Commissioner shall adopt rules under RSA 541-A relative to the administration of this section.

Lab 504.04

Development of Temporary Alternative Work

  1. All employers with five or more full time employees shall develop temporary alternative work programs to bring injured employees back to work.
  2. Temporary alternative work shall be limited and transitional in nature.
  3. The employer shall advise employees that there is a written alternative work program in place and advise employees of the established procedures to obtain alternative work in the event of an on-the-job injury.
  4. The employer shall develop an outline of each position that details present requirements and essential functions of each job within the organization at the time of injury if lost time or restrictions are involved.
  5. The employer shall review each position outline in conjunction with its joint loss management committees as described in Lab 603. This review shall begin with those positions which experience the most workplace injuries. Together they shall develop and describe a policy or process that facilitates return to work.
  6. The employer shall provide the treating physician with an appropriate outline of the present position with an essential task analysis as soon as possible after the injury occurs if lost time or restrictions are involved.
  7. The employer and employee shall have the joint responsibility to obtain needed medical information that will enable the employee to gradually increase their duties to bring the employee back to their original position.

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Second Injury Fund

The Second Injury Fund, created in 1975, offers carriers and employers an opportunity to limit their workers' compensation liability in cases where a "handicapped" worker becomes disabled from an on-the-job injury. The handicap (defined in the law as a "pre-existing, permanent physical or mental impairment") may be of any type or cause—congenital, injury or disease, work related or not. It must, however, be permanent and serious enough to constitute a hindrance or obstacle to the worker in obtaining employment.

The employer must have written documentation of the pre-existing condition at the time of hire or retention. The insurance carrier or self-insured must put the Second Injury Fund on notice within 100 weeks of the date of injury.

The physician must provide an opinion that the combination of the pre-existing condition and the work related injury resulted in a greater disability than would have been caused by the subsequent injury alone.

  • The Special Fund reimburses 50% of medical and indemnity payments after the first $10,000 has been expended.
  • The Special Fund reimburses 100% of all payments after 104 weeks of disability.
  • The Special Fund does not reimburse permanent impairment payments.
  • The Special Fund reimburses 100% of all payments made as a result of concurrent employment.
  • The Special Fund reimburses 50% of expenditures made for job modifications up to $5,000 per employer, per year.

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Job Modification Reimbursement

In order to be eligible for reimbursement, the injury must be accepted by Primex3, and the treating physician must prescribe, in writing, the necessary modification which will allow the employee to return to work or continue to work. The employer must obtain an estimate of the cost of the modification. The estimate, the doctor's note, and the Request for Job Modification Plan Approval must be submitted to the NH Department of Labor, 95 Pleasant Street, Concord, NH 03301. Reimbursement will not be approved if the job modification is purchased prior to the NH Department of Labor's preliminary approval of the Job Modification Plan.

To qualify:

  • Employee had to have been employed by you at the time of injury;
  • An 8WC (Employer's First Report of Injury) must be on file with all parties;
  • The injury for which you are making the modification must be causally related to the employment;
  • Employee must remain in your employ;
  • Injury must have occurred after January 1, 1991.

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