Margaret Spence shares three tools for managing injured worker returns: a written blueprint of 5-10 rules setting clear expectations, a two-sided sheet showing light and regular duties for the doctor to approve, and a post-injury plan addressing ADA, FMLA, and settlements for workers who can't return to their old job.
Top 3 things: the day the employee's injured, the employee needs to know your expectation, period. So even if the claim is not one where the employee is going to be off work, I recommend that employers create what's called a blueprint, a piece of paper that you put out, 10 or 5 rules that you want the employee to follow post-accident. Bring me your doctor's notes, um, report to your supervisor, this is where you go for medical treatment, whatever the list needs to encompass, but it needs to also encompass two things: how they're gonna report back to work, how they're gonna let you know their medical status, and the fact that they need to adhere to the restrictions not only at work but at home. Okay, so that's 3 things that need to be on that, that sheet. So that's part 1 of the return to work process. Part 2 is that the employer needs to be able to communicate with the physician. They need to communicate the light duty job that's available. One of the things that I recommend to employers is that they give the injured worker the light duty job on a sheet of paper with the regular duty job on the back of that same paper, the job description. So the injured worker is now taking the job description into the doctor's office. The doctor is then able to flip both sides and say, okay, you can't do this job, but you can do the one on the back, and the doctor is immediately signing off on it. That would be part 2 of the toolkit. Part 3 of the toolkit is addressing the ADA exposure, the FMLA exposure, and what settlements could do within the organization. So if you're, if you're going to create the return to work, you need to have a post-MMI plan. Okay, so for example, you have an injured worker who may not be able to return to their pre-injury job. Now what?
