Committee hears bill to restore ‘full duty’ releases in workers’ compensation

Representative Anthony Nicastro, sponsor of House Bill 197, told the House Business and Labor Committee that the bill would “restore a long standing and accepted practice” in Montana workers’ compensation by making clear that a treating physician’s unrestricted release allows an injured worker to return to full duty and the insurer to end benefits without a separate job-analysis process.

The change is aimed at reversing the effect of a workers’ compensation court decision (referred to in testimony as Rainey) that, officials said, extended a job-analysis and administrative review process to cases in which physicians issued full-duty releases. Proponents including Montana State Fund, business groups and trade associations said the process now costs employers and delays return to work.

“An injured worker can return to work when their treating physician says that they can,” said…