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4477
Phone: 281.880.6525
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Helping Temporarily Disabled
Employees Return to Work
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The goal of light duty programs isn't to squeeze every last ounce of
productivity from your workers. Assuming they are healthy enough, the goal
is to prevent them from disengaging entirely from work. An unfortunate side
effect of temporary disability is that it can sometimes retard the individual's
ability to get back in the swing of things once they are fully back on their feet
again.
Work-Related Requirement?
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One important unsettled question regarding light duty programs is this: Can
you limit these programs to employees who have temporary disabilities
which resulted from work-related accidents?
The EEOC has maintained that employers cannot limit light duty programs to
work-related injury cases, but that position hasn't been sustained in all legal
jurisdictions.
However, whether or not the disabling condition is work-related, employers
are still obliged to make "reasonable accommodations" to employees who
qualify under the ADA. (See right-hand box for the relationship between
workplace injuries and the ADA.) If you are persuaded that light duty, return-
to-full capacity programs just make business sense, you would have no
reason to limit them.
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Following are some key tips and insights about light duty, return-to-work
programs:
Program duration: These are supposed to be temporary, and you can set
time limits. Leave yourself some flexibility by stating that the program
ordinarily does not last longer than a specified time period, but that in
some circumstances an extension might be possible.
Have a detailed plan: Before allowing an employee into a light duty plan,
be sure you have laid out a set of milestones that will keep the employee
on track to resume all the duties of his or her former position.
Don't outsource everything: Group disability insurance carriers generally
have their own return-to-work programs and will take charge of everything
if you let them. It's better to stay involved and agree at the outset on a
logical set of shared responsibilities.
Work closely with the medical team: The employee's physician can
provide critical input in designing the light duty program. But be sure the
physician has a clear understanding of the precise nature of the demands
of the job.
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