A Public Entity’s employees are their most valued assets, and employee safety and wellbeing are essential to the smooth operation of the organization. When employees are injured or ill, it is important to assist them with a quick recovery and return them to meaningful employment. One of the best ways to retain an injured worker and help get them back to pre-injury status is to provide them with an opportunity to return to work as soon as possible.

An effective return-to-work process is accomplished by providing an injured worker with a temporary work assignment that safely accommodates their injury and follows their treating physician’s instructions. APEI member employers are encouraged to work with our adjusters and an injured employee’s medical provider to help identify work tasks that the injured employee can complete and are useful to the employer.

APEI members are encouraged to adopt a return-to-work policy which codifies the employer’s expectation that injured employees will return to work as soon as they are able, and includes guidance on employee eligibility, as well as transitional and temporary job opportunities suitable for injured employees. Keep in mind that these transitional duties are temporary and not intended to be the employee’s new long-term position. The intent is to allow the employee to perform light duty work until they are able to return to their pre-injury job duties.

In some cases, an employer will continue to pay the injured employee their full salary for the light duty work. In other cases, particularly if the employee is working less than full time, the employee will receive a lower rate of pay for this work. In this case, APEI will cover a portion of the employee’s lost wages. Our workers’ compensation adjusters will work with our members to make sure the employee is compensated appropriately.

To determine if it is appropriate for an employee to return to work in a modified position:

1. Determine the limitations the employee has for completing the essential functions of their regular job. This can be accomplished by providing the employee with a current version of their job description to share with their treating physician, and then to request information from the physician regarding any physical limitations the employee has. Information from the physician will ideally include information as to when the employee will be able to resume their regular job duties. APEI adjusters can help with this communication with the physician if desired.
2. Review the employee’s job functions and other job duties available that the employee would be able to complete.
3. Create a list of job duties or a temporary job description the employee will follow until they recover and are cleared by their physician to return to their regular job. The duties should include clear expectations for completing duties just as with their regular job. Job duties should be meaningful and not just “busy work”.
4. Meet with the employee regularly to assess the effectiveness of the adjusted work assignment, check in with the employee on their recovery, and determine if the job duties should be modified, or to determine if the employee may resume some or all of their regular job duties.

Returning employees to work as soon as possible after a workplace injury is a win-win situation for the employer and the injured employee. The employer benefits by reducing workers’ compensation costs and by continuing to utilize the injured employee’s knowledge, skills, and experience. The employee benefits not only by maintaining some or all of their earnings but is more likely to return to their pre-injury job faster and continues to be a productive contributor to the organization.

For more information on how to help injured employees return to work, contact Cole Cummins at ccummins@akpei.com or 907-523-9470. You can also find additional information in APEI’s Loss Control Manual under the return-to-work section.