Communication with Worker and Family About Return to Work Options

Limiting Employee Lost Time in Workers' Compensation by Communicating the Proper Message to Employees and their families. In workers' compensation, lost time is a multiple of what it is for a similar injury covered by a disability plan. This means that large gains from an optimistic return-to-work effort are a realistic goal in work comp claims. However, the most effective efforts begin on the day of the injury and the day following. To the family of a worker even seemingly minor injuries throw the family finances into turmoil. Therefore, the employer should be aware that the worker's own family is the employer's strongest ally for return-to-work efforts. Yet this alliance will not take place unless the employer communicates the proper message. 1- On the day of the injury, the employer must send the highest ranking executive available directly to the accident site. If more than on-site first aid is required, the same executive should accompany the worker to a medical facility and assure the worker, in the presence of the admitting desk, that medical bills will be paid. NEVER leave an employee wondering if a bill will be paid. This is the single greatest cause of litigation and extended absence. 2- Next, the employer must ensure that the employee contacts a family member and communicates that the situation is under control. Wherever possible, the employee should make the first call but the employer should be available to reassure the family that assistance is underway. 3- Following that, if the employee will not be admitted, arrangements must be made to transport the employee home, again accompanied by the executive, with a plan to secure and return the employee's car to the house. At the home, the executive must ascertain if the family will need assistance for essential errands. 4- During the initial period of lost time, phone contact should be maintained with the employee and family on a regular basis to monitor progress, provide reassurance, communicate with the workers' comp insurance carrier, and always to plan for a return to work program as soon as the treating physician agrees, even on a modified or reduced-time basis. Spouse as Ally in Return to Work Efforts. A secret, well-known to workers' compensation attorneys who represent workers, is how often a spouse will call (on a confidential basis) and plead that someone get the worker out of the house and back to gainful employment. Another fact known to workers' attorneys is how many claims are generated by the anger in a spouse who feels that the employer has abandoned the worker (and the family). This attitude will become set in stone long before a carrier can begin to manage a claim unless the employer has maintained the proper relationship. The emotions which arise in the first two days will persist throughout the claim. If they are positive the employee's family will assist in a rapid resolution of the claim. For the employer, this will translate into less lost time, lower workers' compensation costs and higher workplace morale. There will be other benefits, unseen but firmly fixed, in the gratitude of a family that is a member of your business community. Attorney Theodore Ronca is a practicing lawyer from Aquebogue, NY. He is a frequent writer and speaker, and has represented employers in the areas of workers' compensation, Social Security disability, employee disability plans and subrogation for over 30 years. Attorney Ronca can be reached at 631-722-2100. Try the WC Cost Calculator to show the REAL COST of work comp. Look at WC 101 for the basics about workers comp. Workers' Comp Kit^® is a web-based online Assessment, Benchmarking and Cost Containment system for employers. It provides all the materials needed to reduce your costs significantly in 85% less time than if you designed a program from scratch. Do not use this information without independent verification. All state laws are different. Consult with your corporate legal counsel before implementing any cost containment programs. ©2008 Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law. If you would like permission to reprint this material, contact I[email protected]