Sometimes, despite an employer's best efforts, some employees just do not want to come back to work (not having to work for a steady paycheck is a pretty good deal). The usual way employees block their return to work is by exaggerating the physical demands of their job. When asked by the orthopedic doctor how much lifting the job entails, the employee remembers the one time in his 20 years of employment where he picked up a 90-pound bag of concrete mix. What the doctor hears is the poor employee is lifting 90-pound bags all day long. The orthopedic in an effort to avoid a malpractice claim, tells the employee you cannot do that, and keeps the employee off work for another month.A lot of savvy risk managers and workers compensation coordinators are furnishing the medical provider with a copy of the employees written job description as soon as they know who the medical provider is or is going to be. This often helps to get the employee back to work as soon as the employee is physically able to return to work. However even with a written job description, there are times the doctor does not have a clear understanding of the employee’s job.(WCxKit)
With YouTube and all the other video display sites on the internet, the use of video to show and describe things is quite common. Video job descriptions are now easy to create, simple to watch and they make it much easier to understand processes when the medical provider is not previously familiar with them. There are also videos and photos on Facebook that are now commonly used to dispute claims on inability to work.
Before you start making a video of the employee’s job, stop and plans what you want to show. Read through the written job description. Does it cover everything the employee does? Ask another conscientious employee who does the same job how the written job description can be improved (no need to mention the other employee’s work comp claim). Be sure to make note of everything the currently working employee states needs to be added to, or taken out of, the existing job description.
Obtain a copy of the injured employee’s medical restrictions. Identify the limitations the medical provider has placed that are preventing the employee from returning to work (this will be important when making the video record of the job description).
Ask the working employee to allow you to video record the work routine, the daily task and the most difficult parts of the job. Be sure to capture on the video the way the working employee has to move, bend, stretch, twist, walk, sit, stand, etc. Show all repetitive motions. Show all lifting whether it is a 40-pound box of materials, or a feather-light single piece of material.
Be sure to have the sound turned on during the video of the job and ask questions. Some of the questions you will want answered in your video include:
1. How much does that item weigh?
2. How often do you have to pick up the item?
3. Is it easier to do your job sitting down or standing up?
4. How far do you have to reach?
5. How many times a day to you repeat that motion?
6. What can be done to make the physical demands of the job easier?
7. Show me the most difficult part of your job.
8. Without mentioning the injured employee, ask about each limitation that has been placed on the injured employee, for example:
a. “If for safety reasons we said not to lift more than 20 pounds, could you still do your job?”
b. “If you were unable to stand for more than four hours at a time, would you be able to do the job sitting down?”
c. “Would it make the job easier if you alternated between standing and sitting?”
d. “Would you be able to do your job if we limited the repetitive motion to XX repetitions per hour?”
Keep in mind there is the possibility that the conscientious employee will state “you cannot do this job if you cannot lift 40 pounds” or something similar that will validate the fact the injured employee is not malingering and really cannot return to work, yet.
If necessary, edit your video job description to keep the length down to about five minutes. That is about as much time as you can expect the doctor to take away from his/her many other duties to watch the injured employee’s video job description.
When you are satisfied the video record will answer all the potential concerns of the medical provider and properly portray the injured employee’s job, ask the nurse case manager to view the video job description. See if she has any concerns about the injured employee’s capabilities to return to work. If she does, determine how the job might be modified for the injured employee to return to work.(WCxKit)
The nurse case manager is a good way to get the video record in front of the medical provider. The nurse case manager can explain your desire to get the employee back to work and also explain how any necessary job modification will be accomplished to meet the injured employee’s restrictions. If necessary, add to the video any job description changes needed to accompany the employee’s restrictions, showing the way the modified job will be done. When the medical provider sees the employee can do the regular job, or a modified duty job, the formerly injured employee will soon be back to work.
Author Rebecca Shafer, JD, President of Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. is a national expert in the field of workers compensation. She is a writer, speaker, and website publisher. Her expertise is working with employers to reduce workers compensation costs, and her clients include airlines, healthcare, printing/publishing, pharmaceuticals, retail, hospitality, and manufacturing. She is the author of the #1 selling book on cost containment, Manage Your Workers Compensation: Reduce Costs 20-50% www.WCManual.com. Contact: RShafer@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com.
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