Injured employees working nonstandard hours—regularly working at least 12 hours per day or at least 60 per week—are considerably more likely to be fired, to quit, or to return to work at less than full-time capacity than injured workers with more conventional work schedules, according to new research from Ohio State University and lead study author Allard Dembe. For those working extended hours per week, injured employees were 70 percent more likely to quit and 81 percent more likely to be fired than their counterparts with conventional eight-hour per day/40 hours per week work schedules.

The researchers say that occupational rehabilitation professionals should routinely consider the employee’s work schedule as part of their evaluation, claiming that current rehabilitation efforts tend to emphasize the ability of the returning work to perform job tasks rather than when or how long the recovering employee will work each day.