You can get a work permit, but it takes time and ofter the term of suspension can be up before all the paper work goes through.
Actually, and this is speaking only for Texas, the license is confiscated on the spot for either refusal to provide a breath specimen or providing a breath specimen with a BAC of over .08. The license doesn't actually become "suspended" until 45 after days that. During that time the suspect's attorney can request an administrative License Revocation (ALR) hearing before a judge for the State Office of Administrative Hearings. If the suspension is upheld, there is still sufficient time for the attorney to procure for his client an Occupational License to allow him to travel to/from his/her place of employment.
In May of 2002 I had the wonderful privilege of arriving on-scene of a 6-vehicle wreck involving a drunk driving the wrong way on Airport Freeway. I began checking cars and had to get to the 4th before I found anyone alive.....and that lady was all kinds of screwed up (it took the FD over 20 minutes to cut her out). Then the suspect's vehicle, from which I was unable to get the driver out due to damage, went up like a Roman Candle due to ruptured fuel lines. At this point I look back and see the fire truck entering the freeway......about a mile away......having to drive 30 mph on the shoulder. So, I got to listen to this lady's screams as she burned to death.
Then, a year or two later, we got to work an accident in our city whereby an officer from a neighboring agency was run over by a drunk on a traffic stop and killed instantly. I got to accompany the suspect, who was out on bond from a DWI arrest from a few weeks prior, to the hospital. Fortunately, in fatality cases, Texas doesn't allow refusal to provide a blood specimen. Of course the suspect attempted to refuse, but that didn't go far. He had the option of having the nurse get it with a blood-draw kit, or me getting it with a nightstick and Dixie-cup....either way, we were getting it.
Constitutional issues aside, you'll have to pardon me for not having much sympathy for these clowns.