A phone call like that is meant to scare you.

"Come in Monday for light duty or your benefits may be affected."

If you're a project manager in Springfield driving between job sites on I-91, Memorial Avenue, or out toward West Springfield and Chicopee, and a work hand injury turned into complex regional pain syndrome, that call is usually about one thing: getting you back on payroll before the insurer keeps paying weekly checks.

CRPS is not a routine hand injury. That matters.

This condition can start after what looked like a simple fracture, crush injury, laceration, or surgical repair. Then the pain goes off the rails. Burning. Swelling. Color changes. Temperature changes. Sensitivity so bad that typing, gripping a steering wheel, buttoning a shirt, or resting your hand on a desk feels brutal. Here's what most people don't realize: a job labeled "light duty" can still be impossible when the problem is nerve pain, not just strength.

In Massachusetts workers' comp, the employer does not get the final word on whether you can do the offered job. The medical restrictions do.

If your treating doctor says no work, or says the offered position exceeds your restrictions, the employer cannot magically override that by calling the job "administrative" or "modified." A project manager role sounds office-based on paper. In real life, it often means driving site to site, carrying plans, using a laptop, answering nonstop calls, climbing stairs, walking active construction areas, and dealing with constant deadlines. In Springfield, that may mean bouncing between downtown renovations, warehouse work off Page Boulevard, and jobs near the Pike. That's not nothing.

The insurer will focus on the written job offer.

So should you.

If the company offers "light duty," get the description in writing. Not a vague promise. Not "mostly desk work." The actual duties, hours, driving requirements, keyboard use, lifting, field visits, and whether you're expected to use the injured hand for any part of the job.

Then compare that to the doctor's restrictions.

If your doctor says no repetitive hand use, no driving, no keyboarding, no gripping, no lifting, or no work at all because of CRPS flare risk, that written restriction is the fight. If the employer's offer doesn't fit, the offer is garbage.

This is where things get ugly in Massachusetts. The insurer may file to reduce or stop weekly benefits by arguing suitable work was made available and you refused it. That issue can end up before the Department of Industrial Accidents. The DIA handles these disputes, and the paper trail matters more than your boss's opinion.

What helps:

• a clear job description from the employer, detailed medical restrictions from the treating doctor, records showing CRPS symptoms over time, and notes explaining why even "light" tasks trigger pain or loss of function

Do not assume the insurer understands CRPS.

A lot of adjusters treat it like a hand sprain that got exaggerated. They look at an x-ray, see healing, and think you should be back answering emails. That's the whole game. CRPS often does not show up neatly on the kind of tests insurance people respect. But your pain management records, occupational therapy notes, functional limits, skin changes, allodynia, and failed return-to-work attempts can tell the story better than one "normal" image.

And yes, driving between job sites usually counts.

If you were injured while traveling from one work site to another in Springfield for your employer's business, that is generally within the course of employment in Massachusetts. This is not the same as a normal commute from home. A project manager sent from a downtown site to another property in Agawam or Longmeadow is usually on work time, even if the injury happened in a vehicle or while handling work materials during that trip.

That matters because some employers try to blur the line and act like you were "just driving."

No.

Driving between assigned sites is part of the job.

If you're getting treatment far from Springfield, that's not unusual either. Serious pain cases often end up with specialists in Worcester or Boston. Massachusetts General in downtown Boston is a Level I trauma center, and plenty of workers from Western Mass get sent east for complicated care. The trip is miserable, especially when traffic chokes up through Middlesex County or heavy rain backs up everything feeding toward Boston. None of that makes you less injured. It just makes the whole system more exhausting.

One more thing: don't get trapped by a trial return that your doctor never approved.

Employers sometimes push a "just try it for a few hours" approach. With CRPS, that can backfire fast. A short attempt that causes swelling, tremors, or a major pain spike is not proof you can work. It may be proof you can't.

If the company doctor says you can work but your treating doctor says you can't, expect a fight over which medical opinion carries more weight. In Massachusetts, insurers love an exam that says you're capable of something. But a one-time evaluator who spends ten minutes with you does not erase months of treating records documenting CRPS and failed function.

And if the threat was "take light duty or lose your checks," read that as pressure, not final authority. The employer can offer work. The insurer can try to modify benefits. But when your doctor has shut that job down and the records back it up, the call is not the last word.