How to Offer Transitional Duty to Your Injured Employees for Workers Comp

A personal relationship with your injured employees is critical. You need them to feel both you and the company care about their well-being. Hopefully this is truly the case. If possible include the spouse in the meetings about transitional duty as frequently it is the spouse who want the employee to work transitional duty and it is helpful to have the spouse's support. Now, it must be said keeping your company afloat with regard to workers' compensation costs hinges on you getting your employee back to work. The offer of work-arounds or transitional duties for the employee needs to be warm but professional. Consider the following segments in your form letter:

Scope
Work Assignment
Compensation
Periodic Review

With regard to "scope," be sure to list the following:

Inform the employee your Transitional Duty Program was established to provide continuous employment for employees who cannot perform all job functions temporarily because of a work-related injury or illness.
Let them know the goal is to ensure every employee remains an active part of the workforce.
Make it clear participation in the Transitional Duty Program is a condition of employment.

Next, let them know the work assignment will make every attempt to be similar to their original job and if they chose not to return to work, they may be eligible for 12 weeks of unpaid leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act. Employees on transitional duty should not be eligible for overtime. If possible pay employees full wages when on transitional duty so that they are not losing time from work and not losing pay, so indemnity payments do not have to be made by the insurance company. If transitional duty is unavailable then they will be paid for lost work time in accordance with state law. Periodic reviews: Let employees know transitional duty lasts no longer than 120 day, after that time they may return to their original position. If they are unable to do so, your company offers another position if this is required under the Americans with Disabilities Act. If, no other position is available, the employee will be separated from the company. (workersxzcompxzkit). Author: Rebecca Shafer, J.D.

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