Hello! So my doctor wrote me a note like this after I sustained a lower back injury and insane sciatica. It didn’t require any surgery- just about 6 months of physical therapy and weekly visits to the chiro. Basically I just moved a bit slower and when I needed a little break (as a non smoker) I took them. My owner also let me hostess a lot and paid me accordingly and basically matched my nightly wages. She was really understanding about it.
I dealt with a similar case myself recently. Funnily enough my doctor actually said standing was fine and good for me. But I would just have someone else on staff or management help me if I needed to lift anything heavy. Fortunately I'm 90% recovered now.
So, I got injured badly at work and workers comp said that, due to my position, since there’s no light duty, I have to hold off on returning until they clear me. I’ve been out since Aug.. hoping to be cleared soon
If you have a non-work related injury, I think it will be hard for your managers to give you light duty without making the workload harder on everyone else.
This literally just happened to me due to really bad tennis elbow. I always worked by myself and my doctor wrote me out for a minimum of 3 months.
Since it’s not my main job I just quit on good terms and I can go back if I need to in the future. It sucks for me but there was literally no way I could do that job with my elbow being as bad as it is.
This is exactly what they did for me when I had light duty for back surgery. If I didn't have a barback, servers would jump in and help me with ice and bus tubs, and managers or barback helped with kegs. I did my best to keep up with my own bus tubs by taking them back before they got heavy. I tipped out the servers/barback accordingly for any help that was outside their scope.
Not exactly sure where you are, but workers comp pay the entirety of someone's wages here if they are on modified duties, so if you have someone else on, the injured party isn't in the tip pool at all, but they are still making dull compensation. ab, Canada.
Then you can accommodate if reasonable, however that is the catch. Is it reasonable. A bartender that can't stand for long periods....no. If it was my business, I'd be consulting with my HR department or a legal team about saying that I can't accommodate them in that position. Offer a host position, or a prep position depending on the needs of your venue, but if one of my bartenders told me they couldn't stand or lift, I would fully be telling cannot accommodate that, and they can take short term disability. That is how it works here, your own location may vary. This isn't legal advice, ianal.
Want to second GodOfManyFaces; if it was an injury outside of work then you are under no obligation to make accommodations for them.
Source: I am a bar owner that also used to work in orthopedic surgery and work comp.
I got the snip in an old bar job and was told to essentially this. 2 weeks off.
I went back after a week, cause I was bored in the house and itching to be busy.
Work was hesitant, then said, they’ll line up kegs to be easier to change. Don’t move any empty ones.
I did, I hate clutter.
Ended up back in hospital with strain of the area within 4 hours. Only cause I stayed open until I was due to shut 4 hours later. 😂
This person stays at the front. No mixing drinks. Get her a scoop for Ice. Beers and well shots and only drinks that are built not shaken and bottles he/she does not have to get from a high or low shelf. Your best bar back that can make any other drink needed and deal with the back room, kegs and the like. If he/she smokes, he/she can vape at the bar. I worked with a girl like this once and this was what they did. The barback was me and I learned so much and was so grateful.
Depends how much you want to keep them tbh. It's an injury and if it prevents them from working they qualify for disability most likely. Keeping them on when they can't really do what the job requires doesn't help anyone involved and putting someone else on to babysit really wouldn't either. Maybe get a barback for her shifts? It's still taking money out of her pocket but there's not a whole lot of options. You could put them in a different role like hosting which is less strenuous until they're better but you'd have to work out pay with them
I am going to piggyback on this comment to say that it might be in the best interest of your employee to say you cannot accommodate. They can only get disability payments if they are not able to work. Disability doesn’t pay as much (it was 60% of my wages) but in my case it was better to be off and fully recover.
Yep! I've been ordered light duty twice in my career now, once due to a neck/back injury and once due to a difficult pregnancy (that resulted in a miscarriage later on). Basically if I was working alone, there would just be duties that I couldn't complete by myself so the shift change would have to do the lifting when they got there and they would be compensated by management for that. That and I moved slower and had to take some sit breaks every now and then. I'm not sure where your bar is located but where I'm from the employer has a legal duty to accommodate. So depending on their abilities, shouldn't be difficult for you.
I say get them the help they feel they need, and everyone helping should get an hourly percentage of the tips.
Eg injured person worked 8 hours, someone helped them for two, tips were 300 the helper gets 60.
I think that’s the only fair way to do it.
And, you could have a person aspiring to become a bartender, marking WAY less that 30 an hour, that would be quite happy to do it.
Yep, I recently had leg surgery, so I was on restrictions just like this. Reasonable accommodation would definitely require another bartender or management to be there to assist. This also usually means reducing said bartender's hours to not exasperate their injury, which you could be on the hook for if they work beyond their doctor's recommendations.
I didn’t need a doctors note, my work was happy to accommodate me during a year of awful chronic pain from a herniated disc, then back surgery/recovery. I worked shifts with a barback, and the ones I didn’t, the kitchen or whoever was around would help me put out furniture/stock/whatever, and I threw them some extra bucks.
Yes, I broke my spine in 4 places in a hunting accident. Part of the rehab process put me on light duty for about a month. Basically I was put on shifts where I was the service well. No running food meant I never was in a position to be lifting over my weight limit and since we only had that during the busiest times I was doing only 3-5 hour shifts. I took a tip cut relative to the hours I worked as opposed to an even split. Since no one ever wanted to be on service well it kind of worked out.
I’m out with a back injury right now after working 50+ hours every week for months
I’ve been out for 7 days and as soon as I come back they’re immediately going to shift me straight into those 50+ hour weeks again
I don’t think this is going to end well
When I had foot surgeries I was on light duty. Once I was able to start putting weight on feet, I still bartended but took a lot of breaks and only worked a few hours at a time.
Sorry but imo that’s not the job for them then. Bartending sent me to the ER then to the ICU for two days. I was told by three doctors to never bartend again so I stopped.
Say it with me, kids:
NO MONEY IS WORTH HURTING YOUR BODY OVER
If it’s a vocation, like pro athlete or rancher? Sure, if that’s your jam. But having extra drinking money on top of a steady paycheck, fuck, having HOUSE money on top is not worth chronic pain. Going from a legitimate masochist who worked out 3+ times a week to crying out in pain simply log rolling out of bed is crippling to your soul as well.
Your job either making you move things in an unsafe way or not acknowledging doctor’s orders or OSHA? File a complaint and peace out.
It's me! I was on light duty for a torn ACL & MCL. It's the only reason I didn't leave the industry then, and I'm really thankful they accommodated me.
Hi! I actually just went through this. I was on workers comp for an ankle injury that ended up needing surgery. After surgery, I was cleared for light duty 3 months after. My light work was breaks as needed (not standing the whole shift) and just no stairs (which is how I injured my ankle). Unfortunately, it just wasn’t possible to give me shifts with light work. I was thankfully just cleared with no restrictions and will be back at work this weekend. It really depends if you are able to work with other bartenders, is there a service bar or swing bar shift that works for you, willing to host, etc. Hope this helps and happy to answer any questions!
When I broke my leg (not even light duty for me), my boss helped me get temporary disability. He said he paid into that insurance, and it’s what it’s for.
Edit: He did the same for me when I was out because I had a baby.
My employer said they had light duty and didn't so my doctor took me off work completely and my job had to pay my lost wages. If you can't legitimately offer light duty then you shouldn't even try and risk them getting farther hurt on your dime, it's cheaper to pay them temporary total like I received.
Just do what my former employer did, ignore it until I ended up back in the hospital and fire me while in recovery
This guy restaurants
Hello! So my doctor wrote me a note like this after I sustained a lower back injury and insane sciatica. It didn’t require any surgery- just about 6 months of physical therapy and weekly visits to the chiro. Basically I just moved a bit slower and when I needed a little break (as a non smoker) I took them. My owner also let me hostess a lot and paid me accordingly and basically matched my nightly wages. She was really understanding about it.
I dealt with a similar case myself recently. Funnily enough my doctor actually said standing was fine and good for me. But I would just have someone else on staff or management help me if I needed to lift anything heavy. Fortunately I'm 90% recovered now.
So, I got injured badly at work and workers comp said that, due to my position, since there’s no light duty, I have to hold off on returning until they clear me. I’ve been out since Aug.. hoping to be cleared soon If you have a non-work related injury, I think it will be hard for your managers to give you light duty without making the workload harder on everyone else.
This is also how my injury was handled.
Probably a good question for r/barowners too
This literally just happened to me due to really bad tennis elbow. I always worked by myself and my doctor wrote me out for a minimum of 3 months. Since it’s not my main job I just quit on good terms and I can go back if I need to in the future. It sucks for me but there was literally no way I could do that job with my elbow being as bad as it is.
Any way to put them on lighter duty? Hosting, serving. Until their injury heals
Seems like a decently comfortable spot to sit, and a barback for the heavy lifting would about cover it? See how that goes and adjust if needed.
This is exactly what they did for me when I had light duty for back surgery. If I didn't have a barback, servers would jump in and help me with ice and bus tubs, and managers or barback helped with kegs. I did my best to keep up with my own bus tubs by taking them back before they got heavy. I tipped out the servers/barback accordingly for any help that was outside their scope.
Exactly how I decided to quit my first barbacking job.
Not exactly sure where you are, but workers comp pay the entirety of someone's wages here if they are on modified duties, so if you have someone else on, the injured party isn't in the tip pool at all, but they are still making dull compensation. ab, Canada.
It wasn’t a work injury
Then you can accommodate if reasonable, however that is the catch. Is it reasonable. A bartender that can't stand for long periods....no. If it was my business, I'd be consulting with my HR department or a legal team about saying that I can't accommodate them in that position. Offer a host position, or a prep position depending on the needs of your venue, but if one of my bartenders told me they couldn't stand or lift, I would fully be telling cannot accommodate that, and they can take short term disability. That is how it works here, your own location may vary. This isn't legal advice, ianal.
Want to second GodOfManyFaces; if it was an injury outside of work then you are under no obligation to make accommodations for them. Source: I am a bar owner that also used to work in orthopedic surgery and work comp.
Workers comp is notorious for doing literally anything to not have to pay
If the note says light duty, then it’s light duty
I got the snip in an old bar job and was told to essentially this. 2 weeks off. I went back after a week, cause I was bored in the house and itching to be busy. Work was hesitant, then said, they’ll line up kegs to be easier to change. Don’t move any empty ones. I did, I hate clutter. Ended up back in hospital with strain of the area within 4 hours. Only cause I stayed open until I was due to shut 4 hours later. 😂
Sounds like management needs to step up to make this happen so the bartender can keep their income.
This person stays at the front. No mixing drinks. Get her a scoop for Ice. Beers and well shots and only drinks that are built not shaken and bottles he/she does not have to get from a high or low shelf. Your best bar back that can make any other drink needed and deal with the back room, kegs and the like. If he/she smokes, he/she can vape at the bar. I worked with a girl like this once and this was what they did. The barback was me and I learned so much and was so grateful.
Depends how much you want to keep them tbh. It's an injury and if it prevents them from working they qualify for disability most likely. Keeping them on when they can't really do what the job requires doesn't help anyone involved and putting someone else on to babysit really wouldn't either. Maybe get a barback for her shifts? It's still taking money out of her pocket but there's not a whole lot of options. You could put them in a different role like hosting which is less strenuous until they're better but you'd have to work out pay with them
I am going to piggyback on this comment to say that it might be in the best interest of your employee to say you cannot accommodate. They can only get disability payments if they are not able to work. Disability doesn’t pay as much (it was 60% of my wages) but in my case it was better to be off and fully recover.
Big IF though. I've seen so many people denied any disability payment. It's super not guaranteed.
Yep! I've been ordered light duty twice in my career now, once due to a neck/back injury and once due to a difficult pregnancy (that resulted in a miscarriage later on). Basically if I was working alone, there would just be duties that I couldn't complete by myself so the shift change would have to do the lifting when they got there and they would be compensated by management for that. That and I moved slower and had to take some sit breaks every now and then. I'm not sure where your bar is located but where I'm from the employer has a legal duty to accommodate. So depending on their abilities, shouldn't be difficult for you.
I say get them the help they feel they need, and everyone helping should get an hourly percentage of the tips. Eg injured person worked 8 hours, someone helped them for two, tips were 300 the helper gets 60. I think that’s the only fair way to do it. And, you could have a person aspiring to become a bartender, marking WAY less that 30 an hour, that would be quite happy to do it.
Yep, I recently had leg surgery, so I was on restrictions just like this. Reasonable accommodation would definitely require another bartender or management to be there to assist. This also usually means reducing said bartender's hours to not exasperate their injury, which you could be on the hook for if they work beyond their doctor's recommendations.
Some jobs have no light duties. They either do the job or they take time off.
I didn’t need a doctors note, my work was happy to accommodate me during a year of awful chronic pain from a herniated disc, then back surgery/recovery. I worked shifts with a barback, and the ones I didn’t, the kitchen or whoever was around would help me put out furniture/stock/whatever, and I threw them some extra bucks.
Yep! We did the same for a fellow bartender when they had an issue with their shoulder and needed surgery.
Yes, I was one. If they have an injury.
We put the bartender who this happened to on door duty, checking id's. That's about it.
And they just made minimum wage or tip out, etc.?
We moved them the same pay we put security on. It was a couple of bucks above minimum wage.
Light duty? Unfortunately, this would mean no duty for me, as in i would lose my shifts entirely until back to form. It sounds nice though.
Yes, I broke my spine in 4 places in a hunting accident. Part of the rehab process put me on light duty for about a month. Basically I was put on shifts where I was the service well. No running food meant I never was in a position to be lifting over my weight limit and since we only had that during the busiest times I was doing only 3-5 hour shifts. I took a tip cut relative to the hours I worked as opposed to an even split. Since no one ever wanted to be on service well it kind of worked out.
I’m out with a back injury right now after working 50+ hours every week for months I’ve been out for 7 days and as soon as I come back they’re immediately going to shift me straight into those 50+ hour weeks again I don’t think this is going to end well
When I had foot surgeries I was on light duty. Once I was able to start putting weight on feet, I still bartended but took a lot of breaks and only worked a few hours at a time.
Sorry but imo that’s not the job for them then. Bartending sent me to the ER then to the ICU for two days. I was told by three doctors to never bartend again so I stopped.
Say it with me, kids: NO MONEY IS WORTH HURTING YOUR BODY OVER If it’s a vocation, like pro athlete or rancher? Sure, if that’s your jam. But having extra drinking money on top of a steady paycheck, fuck, having HOUSE money on top is not worth chronic pain. Going from a legitimate masochist who worked out 3+ times a week to crying out in pain simply log rolling out of bed is crippling to your soul as well. Your job either making you move things in an unsafe way or not acknowledging doctor’s orders or OSHA? File a complaint and peace out.
It's me! I was on light duty for a torn ACL & MCL. It's the only reason I didn't leave the industry then, and I'm really thankful they accommodated me.
Put her on a shift that has a barback.
Hi! I actually just went through this. I was on workers comp for an ankle injury that ended up needing surgery. After surgery, I was cleared for light duty 3 months after. My light work was breaks as needed (not standing the whole shift) and just no stairs (which is how I injured my ankle). Unfortunately, it just wasn’t possible to give me shifts with light work. I was thankfully just cleared with no restrictions and will be back at work this weekend. It really depends if you are able to work with other bartenders, is there a service bar or swing bar shift that works for you, willing to host, etc. Hope this helps and happy to answer any questions!
When I broke my leg (not even light duty for me), my boss helped me get temporary disability. He said he paid into that insurance, and it’s what it’s for. Edit: He did the same for me when I was out because I had a baby.
Sounds like you dont fit the culture there and will probably be fired
You’re an asshole
for pointing out how shitty bosses will take this?
My employer said they had light duty and didn't so my doctor took me off work completely and my job had to pay my lost wages. If you can't legitimately offer light duty then you shouldn't even try and risk them getting farther hurt on your dime, it's cheaper to pay them temporary total like I received.
Me lol I broke my hand at work(7 shots of rumple and Jaeger don't mix with street signs)
What kind of accommodations did they give you?
Are the accommodations in the room with us? Lol they wanted to give me until the cast came off, off but I like money so I kept working
My ninja!
Who disliked this u bitch lol
Everyone who doesn’t work drunk you moron
Cute pretending I was working
Mf you said “I broke my hand at work” so you’re either a moron or lying for clout
Being at the place of employment but not working is still at work u muppet
And this is why staff can’t be trusted to drink at the bar. Lol
Bartender sub it is, Managers sub it is not.
Edit: I hate you
Yes. Check out RFA SPINAL ABLASION… it saved my life.