Modified duties at work in Canada are changes to your normal job that allow you to work safely within medical restrictions, disability-related limitations or another protected accommodation need.
Modified work can include lighter physical tasks, different hours, extra breaks, changes to how work is performed or temporary removal of duties you can’t safely do. If modified duties are needed because of a protected need, your employer must properly consider them as part of its duty to accommodate.
But modified work has to respect your actual restrictions. If your employer gives you duties that conflict with medical advice, don’t simply refuse the work or stop attending. Explain the problem in writing, get updated medical information where needed and protect your employment position.
On This Page:
- 1. What Modified Duties Are
- 2. When Employers Must Provide Them
- 3. Examples of Modified Duties
- 4. Medical Restrictions & Documentation
- 5. Can You Refuse Modified Duties?
- 6. Pay, Demotions & Failed Accommodation
What Are Modified Duties at Work?
Modified duties are changes to your regular work that allow you to do your job within legitimate restrictions or limitations.
They are commonly used when an employee is returning after an injury, surgery, illness, disability leave or another medical absence.
Modified duties can be temporary while you recover. They can also last longer when an employee has ongoing limitations that require workplace accommodation.
The point is not to find work that merely looks “easy.” The work should match what you can safely and reasonably do.
Are modified duties the same as light duties?
They can be, but modified duties are broader than simply giving an employee lighter physical work.
Someone with a back injury might need less lifting. Someone with a mental health disability might need fewer competing deadlines, different hours or a gradual increase in workload.
Does Your Employer Have to Provide Modified Duties?
Your employer must consider modified duties when they are a reasonable way to accommodate a need protected by human rights law.
Disability is one of the most common reasons. Employers across Canada have a duty to accommodate protected employee needs to the point of undue hardship.
That means an employer should not simply say:
- “We don’t offer light duties.”
- “Come back when you’re 100% recovered.”
- “Everyone has to perform the same tasks.”
The employer should look at your individual restrictions and ask whether your job can reasonably be changed so you can continue working.
There is not, however, a general right to modified duties simply because you would prefer different work. The legal accommodation duty must be connected to a need protected by human rights law.
Does your employer have to create a completely new job?
Not necessarily. An employer does not normally have to invent meaningless work or permanently remove the essential purpose of your job.
It does have to seriously consider reasonable changes to existing duties and other suitable work that is available before deciding that accommodation can’t be provided.
What Are Examples of Modified Duties?
Modified duties should address the actual barriers created by your medical restrictions or other protected needs.
Examples include:
- Reducing heavy lifting, carrying or pushing
- Providing seated work instead of prolonged standing
- Reducing repetitive movements
- Removing driving, travel or safety-sensitive tasks temporarily
- Providing shorter shifts or fewer hours
- Allowing additional rest breaks
- Adjusting start or finish times
- Allowing time for treatment or medical appointments
- Reducing competing deadlines or cognitive demands
- Changing how or where work is performed
- Temporarily assigning other suitable work
A modified-work plan does not have to look the same for every employee. It should reflect your actual abilities and the essential requirements of your job.
Can modified duties include reduced hours?
Yes. Modified work can include shorter shifts, fewer days or a gradual increase in hours when those changes are needed as part of reasonable accommodation.
Your hours should reflect your restrictions rather than an arbitrary return-to-work schedule that ignores how you are actually recovering.
What Medical Information Does Your Employer Need?
Your employer usually needs information about what you can and can’t safely do—not your entire medical history.
Useful medical information can explain:
- How much you can lift, carry, push or pull
- Limits on sitting, standing, walking or driving
- Restrictions involving repetitive movement
- Limits on concentration or workload
- Whether you need shorter hours or additional breaks
- How long the restrictions are expected to last
- Whether your abilities are expected to change during recovery
You do not automatically have to provide your complete medical file or detailed diagnosis. Your employer can ask for reasonably necessary information so it can understand your restrictions and find appropriate accommodation.
Can You Refuse Modified Duties?
You can challenge modified duties that conflict with legitimate restrictions, but don’t simply refuse reasonable accommodated work without explaining the problem.
For example, raise the issue if:
- Your doctor says no lifting over 10 pounds but the modified job requires heavier lifting
- You are medically limited to four-hour shifts but your employer schedules eight
- The “light” job still requires a movement your medical provider told you to avoid
- The duties create a genuine safety concern
- Your symptoms worsen and your restrictions need to be reviewed
Explain the conflict in writing. If your medical condition has changed, obtain updated information.
Employees also have to cooperate with accommodation. You do not automatically get to choose your preferred duties if the employer offers another reasonable option that respects your restrictions.
Can your employer force you back before you are ready?
Your employer should not require you to perform work that conflicts with legitimate medical restrictions.
At the same time, being unable to perform your full regular job does not automatically mean you must remain completely off work. If you can safely perform reasonable modified work, returning with accommodation can be appropriate.
What If Modified Duties Affect Your Pay, Position or Job?
Modified duties do not give an employer a free-standing right to permanently cut your pay, demote you or strip away your status.
Your income can change if medical restrictions genuinely mean you are working fewer hours. But a major pay cut, demotion or permanent loss of responsibilities should not automatically be accepted simply because your employer calls the arrangement “modified work.”
A serious negative change connected to disability can raise workplace discrimination concerns. A major unwanted change to your employment can also amount to constructive dismissal.
What if your employer refuses modified duties?
An employer that refuses reasonable accommodation without establishing undue hardship can violate human rights law.
Warning signs include:
- Refusing to discuss modified work at all
- Ignoring clear medical restrictions
- Insisting that you must be fully recovered before returning
- Punishing you for requesting accommodation
- Pressuring you to resign instead of looking for a workable solution
- Firing you because you need disability-related accommodation
If your employer says accommodation has become too difficult, read our guide to undue hardship in Canada before assuming it can legally stop accommodating you.
Can you be fired because you need modified duties?
Your employer can’t lawfully fire you because of a disability without meeting its human rights obligations.
An accommodation request does not guarantee permanent employment. But if you can perform useful work with reasonable accommodation, your employer must properly address that possibility before relying on your disability as the reason your employment should end.
If you are terminated, don’t sign a release before having your full severance package reviewed—you may be owed as much as 24 months’ pay.
Modified Duties Rules by Province
Human rights laws differ across Canada. For province-specific guidance, see:
Modified Duties FAQs
How long can modified duties last?
There is no single Canada-wide time limit for modified duties. They can be short-term during recovery or longer-term when ongoing accommodation is reasonably required.
Can modified duties be permanent?
Yes. Permanent restrictions can require longer-term workplace accommodation. What the employer must provide depends on your restrictions, the essential requirements of the job and whether accommodation would cause undue hardship.
Does your employer have to follow your doctor’s restrictions?
Your employer must take legitimate medical restrictions seriously when assessing accommodation. It can ask for reasonable clarification, but it should not simply ignore medical restrictions and substitute its own assumptions about what you can safely do.
Get Help With a Modified-Duties Problem
Modified duties should help you work safely. They should not force you to choose between ignoring medical restrictions and losing your job.
Samfiru Tumarkin LLP helps non-unionized employees challenge failed accommodation, unsafe modified-duty arrangements, disability discrimination, improper pay or job changes, and secure the full severance pay and compensation they are legally entitled to receive when their employment has been damaged or terminated.
If your employer is ignoring your restrictions, refusing suitable modified work, pressuring you to return too quickly or threatening your job, get advice before resigning, accepting a permanent change or signing a severance package.
Talk to one of our employment lawyers today.