“My doctor says take it easy but won’t put anything in writing.”

What written restrictions actually control

Whether you get paid. Temporary disabilityTD / TTD / TPD Temporary Disability, Total or Partial. Wage replacement while recovering. Two-thirds of average weekly earnings; 2026 maximum $1,764.11/week. is owed when you cannot work. The document that establishes you cannot work is the physician’s work status report. If no report says it, the carrier’s file says you are working, and payments stop. Why checks stop.

Whether your employer has to accommodate you. An employer cannot accommodate a restriction nobody told them about, and a modified-duty offer is measured against written restrictions.

Your job protection. FEHA and CFRA obligations are triggered by known limitations. “Known” means documented.

Your rating. Work restrictions feed into the permanent disabilityPD Permanent Disability. Compensation for lasting impairment. A different and much lower weekly rate — 2026 maximum $290/week. analysis and into any vocational argument about your ability to compete in the open labor market.

Why it happens

Rushed appointments. The most common reason, and the easiest to fix.

The form was not completed. The primary treating physicianPTP Primary Treating Physician. The doctor directing your care. has defined reporting duties, including reporting work status. Sometimes the box simply was not filled in.

The physician is being cautious about being drawn into a dispute.

Or you did not ask clearly. Doctors respond to specific requests far better than to general ones.

What to say, exactly

“Can you write my work restrictions in the report today — specifically the lifting limit, and whether I can do overhead work?”

Specific beats general. Instead of “I can’t do my job,” describe the task: “My job requires lifting 50-pound boxes from floor to shoulder, about forty times a shift. Can I do that?” A doctor can answer that question. They cannot answer “can I work?”

Bring a written description of what your job actually requires. One page, in your words. This is the single most useful thing you can hand a treating physician, and almost nobody does it.

Ask for a copy before you leave. Every visit.

If it still does not happen

Put it in writing to the claims administratorClaims administrator / adjuster The person handling your claim for the insurer or self-insured employer.: that you asked, on what date, and that no work status was issued. That letter is evidence in itself.

You can change treating physicians within the network without permission and without a reason. How the network works.

And a medical-legal evaluation will address work restrictions whether or not the treating physician did. The QME process.

The opposite problem

If you were released to full duty and you cannot actually do the work, that is a different page and it is urgent. My doctor released me but I can’t work.