Texas Return-to-Work: Bona Fide Offers and the DWC-008

Why the Bona Fide Offer Trips Up Texas Employers

A claim is two weeks old. The treating physician has released your injured worker to modified duty — four-hour shifts, no lifting above ten pounds. You draft a quick email outlining a light-duty assignment and CC the adjuster. The worker does not respond. Six weeks later, you learn that the carrier has continued paying full indemnity benefits the entire time, because the offer you sent did not meet the written requirements of 28 TAC §129.6, and no benefit adjustment was ever triggered.

This scenario plays out regularly in Texas, and the mechanics are consequential. Texas workers' compensation operates under a no-fault framework administered by the Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers' Compensation (TDI-DWC). Within that framework, the bona fide offer of employment (BFOE) is the employer's primary lever for managing indemnity costs during the modified-duty period. Get the offer right, and a worker's refusal can trigger a carrier-initiated benefit reduction. Get it wrong, and the offer has no legal effect — and indemnity runs uninterrupted.

This article explains exactly what a Texas bona fide offer of employment must contain, how it interacts with the DWC-008 and DWC-073 forms, where the employer's documentation burden falls, and how to structure your internal return-to-work (RTW) workflow so that nothing gets missed. By the end, you will have a clear picture of the full Texas RTW document chain and what each form is doing in it.

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What Makes a Texas Offer "Bona Fide"

The term bona fide is not rhetorical — it is a defined legal threshold under 28 TAC §129.6, the TDI-DWC rule governing offers of employment. A bona fide offer of employment must be written, and it must meet every requirement of the rule. An email or verbal offer, however detailed, is not a BFOE for purposes of the rule.

Under 28 TAC §129.6, the offer must include all of the following (confirm the current rule text with TDI-DWC or qualified Texas workers' compensation counsel before relying on this list, as rules can be amended):

1. A description of the physical demands of the position — hours, weight limits, posture requirements, any movement restrictions that apply.
2. Confirmation that the position is within the worker's physical restrictions as established by the treating physician's most recent work status report.
3. The salary or wages offered, which must be at least 70 percent of the pre-injury average weekly wage (AWW) to qualify under the rule — confirm the current threshold with TDI-DWC.
4. The location of the work — the position must be at a location the employee can reasonably commute to from their pre-injury residence.
5. A reasonable acceptance window for the worker to respond.

The offer must be delivered in a way that documents receipt or provides evidence of presentation — typically certified mail, or personal delivery with a signed acknowledgment. This is not a courtesy practice; it is how the five-working-day clock starts.

Practical note: Confirm the current complete list of BFOE content requirements directly with TDI-DWC or counsel before issuing an offer. The rule text governs, and it is the authoritative source — not this article.

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The Five-Working-Day Consequence of a Refused Offer

Under 28 TAC §129.6, once a valid written BFOE has been mailed or personally presented to the injured worker, the worker is deemed to have received the offer five days after mailing, and the carrier may then treat the offered wages as post-injury earnings - reducing indemnity benefits - on the earlier of the worker's rejection or the seventh day after that deemed receipt. (TDI-DWC RTW Guide, 2023; 28 TAC §129.6, 2024)

This is the reason documentation precision matters at the BFOE stage. The benefit-reduction trigger is not automatic — the carrier must act on the refused offer — but the employer's documentation is what gives the carrier the ability to act at all. If the employer cannot demonstrate:

• that the offer was written and complete,
• that it was delivered in a documentable manner, and
• that the position was consistent with the worker's current restrictions,

then the offer does not support a benefit adjustment, regardless of what the worker did or did not do in response.

Your RTW case file should contain, at minimum: a copy of the signed offer document, the delivery receipt (certified mail tracking confirmation or signed acknowledgment), the treating physician's current work status report showing the restrictions the offer was designed around, and the date the offer was transmitted to the carrier.

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The DWC-073: Your Bridge Between the Physician and the Offer

Before you can issue a BFOE, you need a current physician work status report. In Texas, that report is the DWC-073, Work Status Report. The treating physician completes this form to communicate the injured worker's functional status — what the worker can and cannot do — to the employer and carrier.

The DWC-073 is the document that establishes the restriction window your BFOE must work within. A BFOE that offers work beyond the restrictions documented on the most recent DWC-073 is not bona fide — it does not meet the physical-demands test, and it exposes the employer to a challenge on the offer's validity.

Key operational points for the DWC-073:

• Request it promptly after each treating-physician appointment. The work status can change at every visit, and an outdated DWC-073 can make a previously valid offer non-conforming.
• File it in your case record the day it arrives. The effective date on the form, not the date you receive it, governs the restriction period. Note the gap in your file.
• Compare the new DWC-073 against the current transitional duty assignment at every update. If restrictions tighten mid-assignment, the assignment must be adjusted immediately, or you risk a non-conforming position.
• Do not share the form beyond those who need restriction information. ADA confidentiality rules require that medical information be maintained on separate forms, in a separate medical record, accessible only to authorized personnel with a legitimate business need (29 CFR 1630.14(c)(1); JAN, 2025). Supervisors receive only the restriction and accommodation information — not the diagnosis or the full form. (EEOC via Gordon Feinblatt, 2024)

For a more detailed walkthrough of the DWC-073's fields and what each restriction category means for job-task matching, see our Texas DWC-073 Work Status Guide.

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The DWC-008: Employer's Report of Injury

The DWC-008, Employer's Report of Injury or Illness, is the employer's formal notice to TDI-DWC that an injury has occurred. It is distinct from the BFOE and the DWC-073 — it belongs at the front of the claim, not the RTW phase — but it matters for your RTW documentation chain because:

1. It establishes the claim record in TDI-DWC's system, against which all subsequent RTW documents are filed.
2. The pre-injury wage information reported on the DWC-008 becomes the basis for the average weekly wage calculation that determines whether your BFOE's offered wage clears the minimum-wage threshold required by 28 TAC §129.6.
3. Any discrepancy between what the employer reported on the DWC-008 and what appears in subsequent RTW correspondence creates grounds for a dispute that delays the process.

Employers are generally required to file the DWC-008 within a specific number of days of becoming aware of an injury. Confirm the current filing deadline directly with TDI-DWC, as late filing can result in administrative penalties. The form must be completed fully — not just the fields your TPA usually completes for you.

If your operation files through a TPA or your carrier's claims unit, request a copy of the filed DWC-008 for your own records. This is your document; the carrier or TPA is filing on your behalf, but you are responsible for its accuracy.

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How the Texas RTW Document Chain Flows

The full Texas RTW document sequence, from injury through modified-duty placement, looks like this:

Stage	Document	Who Completes It	Where It Goes
Injury reported	DWC-008 (Employer's Report)	Employer (often via TPA)	TDI-DWC; carrier
Physician visit	DWC-073 (Work Status Report)	Treating physician	Employer; carrier
BFOE issued	Written Bona Fide Offer (28 TAC §129.6)	Employer	Injured worker (with copy to carrier)
Worker response	Signed acceptance or documented refusal	Worker / employer	Case file; carrier
Modified duty begins	Modified-duty assignment documentation	Employer	Case file
Physician visit (follow-up)	Updated DWC-073	Treating physician	Employer; carrier
Assignment adjusted (if needed)	Amended offer or task documentation	Employer	Case file; carrier
Full duty release	DWC-073 showing full release	Treating physician	Employer; carrier

Each row is a document that belongs in your RTW case file. If your case file has gaps — missing a DWC-073 from a mid-claim physician visit, or a BFOE with no delivery receipt — those gaps are what auditors and opposing counsel look for first.

The return-to-work case management guide covers the broader case-file structure that applies across states; the Texas-specific document sequence above is what overlays it for a TDI-DWC claim.

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Texas Employer Reimbursement: What Actually Exists

Texas does not have a state-administered wage-replacement reimbursement program equivalent to Washington's Stay-at-Work program or Oregon's Early Return-to-Work program. There is no Texas state fund that pays the employer a percentage of the injured worker's modified-duty wages during transitional duty. The primary economic mechanism Texas provides is the indemnity-management lever described above — the BFOE structure that allows a carrier to reduce benefits when a worker refuses a valid offer.

What Texas does provide, at the carrier level, is a workplace modification reimbursement program for smaller employers. Employers with 2 to 50 employees who carry workers' compensation coverage may receive up to $5,000 for TDI-DWC–preauthorized workplace modification expenses. (TDI-DWC RTW Guide, 2023) This covers physical changes to the work environment — not wage reimbursement — and it requires preauthorization before expenses are incurred.

If you are evaluating Texas RTW economics against what other states offer, the comparison belongs in context: Washington reimburses 50 percent of base wages up to 120 days worked with a maximum of $25,000 per claim (AGC of Washington, 2025), and Oregon reimburses 50 percent of early return-to-work gross wages for up to 66 work days (OR WCD, 2025). Texas takes a different structural approach — it manages indemnity through the offer mechanics rather than through a state reimbursement fund. Both paths reduce total claim cost; they just do it differently.

For a side-by-side look at state reimbursement programs, see the state RTW incentive programs overview and the state reimbursement programs hub.

Important: Confirm with TDI-DWC whether the workplace modification reimbursement program is currently open and accepting applications before incurring any expenses. Program availability can change with appropriations cycles, and preauthorization is required. Exact figures and eligibility criteria should be verified at tdi.texas.gov before relying on them.

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Building a Texas BFOE Into Your RTW Workflow

The practical challenge with Texas BFOE compliance is not understanding the rule — it is executing it consistently under time pressure, across multiple concurrent claims, without letting the form quality slip. Here is a workflow structure that holds up:

1. Trigger point: DWC-073 received showing modified-duty capacity. Log the receipt date and the restriction parameters into your case record immediately. This is the start of your BFOE preparation window.

2. Job-matching: identify a position within restrictions. The position must exist, be available, and be within the documented restrictions. Document how you selected it — which tasks, which hours, which physical demands — so the match is defensible if challenged.

3. Draft the written BFOE. Use a template that covers every 28 TAC §129.6 field. Do not modify the template ad hoc per claim — build claim-specific details into a standardized form, and have someone else review it before it goes out. One missing field voids the offer's legal effect.

4. Deliver with documented receipt. Certified mail with return receipt, or personal delivery with a signed acknowledgment. Record the delivery date in your case file. This is day zero of the five-working-day window.

5. Notify the carrier immediately. Send a copy of the BFOE and the delivery confirmation to the adjuster the same day. The carrier cannot act on a refused offer it does not know about.

6. Track the response window. Five working days from mailing or presentation. If no response, document the non-response and contact the adjuster. Do not assume the adjuster is tracking this on their own.

7. Update the assignment whenever the DWC-073 changes. A new work status report with tighter restrictions requires an immediate review of the current assignment. If the assignment exceeds the new restrictions, issue an amended offer or pull the worker from the position that same day.

The Texas RTW & Bona Fide Offer Pack includes a pre-formatted BFOE template structured around the 28 TAC §129.6 content requirements, a DWC-073 tracking log, and a document-chain checklist for each of the stages above. Download it to have a ready-to-complete set before your next Texas claim moves to modified duty.

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Common Documentation Failures — and Their Consequences

The following errors appear repeatedly in contested Texas BFOE situations. Each one is preventable with a disciplined document chain.

Offer delivered by regular mail or email only. No documented delivery means no defensible start date for the five-working-day window. The offer may be treated as undelivered, and the benefit-adjustment trigger never activates.

Offer does not reference the current DWC-073. If the offer was drafted against a physician report that has since been superseded by a more restrictive update, the position may no longer be within current restrictions. The offer can be challenged as not bona fide.

Wage offered is not calculated against the correct AWW. If the pre-injury wage on the DWC-008 was reported incorrectly, the 70-percent threshold calculation is wrong. Verify the AWW with the carrier before the offer is drafted.

Carrier was not notified promptly. The carrier must know about the offer and the response — or non-response — to initiate a benefit adjustment. A two-week gap between offer delivery and carrier notification wastes the entire five-working-day window.

Assignment was extended past new restrictions without a revised offer. If the DWC-073 changes and the employer keeps the worker in the same assignment without review, the employer may be placing a worker in a position that violates their current physician-approved restrictions. This creates both a safety exposure and a claim-validity issue.

Restrictions were shared beyond authorized personnel. Disclosing the diagnosis or the full DWC-073 to supervisors, coworkers, or personnel outside the RTW team violates ADA confidentiality requirements (29 CFR 1630.14(c)(1); JAN, 2025). Supervisors need to know the restrictions and accommodations — nothing more.

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What Comes Next

Texas return-to-work is a documentation discipline as much as a workforce management one. The BFOE structure gives employers a meaningful tool for managing indemnity costs during modified duty — but only if the offer is written, complete, delivered with a documented receipt, communicated to the carrier, and built on a current DWC-073. Every broken link in that chain costs you the benefit-management lever the rule was designed to provide.

If you are managing Texas claims alongside other states, the RTW case management principles are consistent, but the forms and mechanics vary materially by state. The state reimbursement programs hub maps those state-by-state differences, including Washington's wage-reimbursement program and Oregon's early RTW structure, if you need to compare program designs.

For a ready-to-use Texas BFOE template and the full document-chain checklist, download the Texas RTW & Bona Fide Offer Pack and have the materials in place before your next modified-duty claim reaches the offer stage.

Transitional Duty Manager builds employer-side RTW documentation and tracking software. This article reflects workers' compensation research and observation; it is not legal or claims advice. Confirm all form versions, filing deadlines, program availability, and rule requirements directly with TDI-DWC at tdi.texas.gov or with qualified Texas workers' compensation counsel.