Toolbox: Return-to-Work - SAIF Corporation

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Risk Management Return to Work www.saif.com Program benefits • Injured workers off work longer than six months have only a 50 percent chance of returning to their job. If time loss exceeds one year, there is a 90 percent chance they will never return to work. • Return-to-work programs reduce medical costs. The injured worker heals faster, shortening the time medical treatment is required. • Return-to-work programs reduce legal costs. Workers are less likely to feel their rights have been violated causing them to hire legal council. • Cost reductions resulting from return-to-work programs directly impact your organization’s workers’ compensation premium rate. Manage the process The immediate supervisor serves a key role in making the process successful. Consistent and on-going communication with the worker is vital. The process should be treated in a positive, proactive fashion. The worker in a transitional/temporary job should be made to feel that he or she is a productive part of the work force. Care and concern should be expressed by all involved, including the worker’s peers. You should inform your claims adjuster and/or return-to-work consultant regarding any changes in the worker’s transitional/temporary work status. How to get your injured workers back to work and control workers’ compensation costs 1. Find a transitional/temporary job that fits the injury. Use your Release to Return-to-Work form (a sample is included in this section) or physician’s release form to determine the physician’s work restrictions. Then, if possible, identify a suitable transitional/temporary job within those restrictions. Provide a copy of this form to your worker and instruct the worker to have their physician complete the form at each visit and return it to you so that you may stay updated with their most current work restrictions. 2. Do not wait for the physician to contact you. Write a description of the transitional job (using the Job Description form included in this section), identifying the physical requirements of your transitional/temporary position. When applicable, use the information previously obtained from your Release to Return-to-Work Form or other physician’s release information. Send the job description to the treating physician, introducing the job and expressing your willingness to accommodate the physical restrictions the physician identified. Offer to pick up the response, or provide a fax or contact number to the doctor and ask them to advise you when it is completed from the physician’s office to speed up the process. Maintain contact with the physician until you obtain approval. © SAIF Corporation Page 2 of 25 S-825 January 2007
Risk Management Return to Work www.saif.com 3. When you get a physician’s approval of the job description: Call the injured worker and have him/her come in to your office to go over the job description (job duties) and sign the Job Offer letter (A sample is included in this section.) Make sure the work restrictions are clear to the worker and to all the necessary levels of supervision. If the duration of the Job Offer is unknown, use “temporary, to be reviewed periodically”. If the worker has no phone, is not returning calls, or has moved out of the area: Send a written Job Offer letter via both certified (restricted delivery) and regular mail. This letter should inform the worker that the physician has released him/her. Use your Job Offer letter (sample included in this section) to satisfy your legal requirements. Be sure to include a copy of the Job Description form signed by the physician. 4. Notify your SAIF claims adjuster or return-to-work consultant: When the worker returns to work. If the worker refuses the modified work or fails to report to work on the start date. If the work available for the worker is less than on the Job Offer letter. 5. Send a copy of the physician's release, the approved Job Description, and your written Job Offer to the SAIF claims adjuster and/or return-to-work consultant, along with certified receipts. 6. Key factors to remember: In order to ensure compliance with Workers’ Compensation Law, make sure that you notify your SAIF return-to-work consultant if you have any questions regarding this process. Remember that in certain situations an employee may refuse an offer of modified employment and continue to receive temporary total disability benefits. Those situations are highlighted on next page. © SAIF Corporation Page 3 of 25 S-825 January 2007
Page 1: RISK MANAGEMENT Return to Work Retu
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Page 9 and 10: Return form to: Name of worker RELE
Page 11 and 12: EMPLOYER: ADDRESS: PHONE/FAX NUMBER
Page 15 and 16: EMPLOYER: ADDRESS: REGULAR JOB DESC
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Toolbox: Return-to-Work - SAIF Corporation

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