The $120 million funding program, provided through the state of California, is known as the Return-to-Work Supplement Program. It is funded through a surcharge on employers' insurance premiums.

The program provides a $5,000 payment to workers injured on or after January 1, 2013, who have received a $6,000 Supplemental Job Displacement Voucher from their employer.1 The request for the $5,000 supplement payment is made online by the employee via specially dedicated kiosks at each district office of the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board.

Incentives Affecting Permanent Disability Payments

For injuries occurring after January 1, 2005, and prior to January 1, 2013, the following rules still apply:

• Employers of 50 or more employees may be eligible for a decrease of permanent disability payments.2 To receive the decrease, you must offer return to work opportunities to injured employees within a specified time frame. You can offer an injured employee regular, modified or alternative work. For the definitions of these terms, see Returning Permanent and Stationary Employee to Work and Offering a Modified or Alternate Position.
• Eligible employers who fail to offer a return to work opportunity to injured employees within the specified time frame may be subject to a statutory increase of permanent disability payments.3

When you make a return to work offer within 60 days of the date the injured employee is considered P&S, subsequent permanent partial disability payments will be reduced by 15 percent, regardless of whether the employee accepts the employment offer. If you do not make a return to work offer within 60 days of the date the injured employee is considered P&S, subsequent permanent partial disability payments will be increased by 15 percent.

The difference for the employer between offering modified/alternate work and not offering it for these dates of injury is 30 percent of the cost of the permanent disability award.

If you terminate the employment opportunity prior to the end of the period for which permanent partial disability payments are due, all subsequent payments will be increased to the level they would have been if you had not made the return to work offer.

Special rules apply to return to work offers for injured employees who were employed in seasonal work at the time of their injuries. In this context, “seasonal work” means employment as a daily hire, a project hire or an annual season hire. If the employee was hired for seasonal work prior to the injury, you can make an offer of regular, modified or alternative seasonal work. The return to work offer must provide reasonably similar hours and working conditions to the employee’s previous employment. The employment must start within 12 months of the offer date and must last one year, either consecutively or cumulatively. The offer must meet the same conditions as for regular work in all other respects.4

1. Lab. Code sec. 139.48; 8 CCR sec. 17308