Return To Work Frequently Asked Questions
What does “Return to Work” mean?
As an employer what can I do to assist an injured worker?
How can injured workers be assisted to return to work?
Can a worker return to work early after a workplace injury?
Who can help the worker get back to work?
What is a Return to Work Plan?
What is an Offer of Suitable Employment?
What if an injured worker has no capacity for work?
Does a Return to Work Co-ordinator have to be appointed?
What does “Return to Work” mean?
Return to work means helping injured workers get back to work or stay at work while they recover from an injury. This involves employers providing modified or alternative jobs for workers to do that won’t aggravate the injury until they can return to their regular job. Experience shows that the best way to keep productivity and moral in the workplace up and premiums down is to return injured workers to work safely and as soon as possible.
As an employer what can I do to assist an injured worker?
As the employer, your attitude, support and understanding following an injury will affect the relationship between you and your injured worker. Maintaining regular contact with your injured worker is crucial in helping them return to work, reducing staff down time and additional costs to the business.
How can injured workers be assisted to return to work?
It’s important to remember that most injured workers will recover quickly with little more than first aid or medical treatment. However, some injured workers may require more help.
Three key components to facilitating a return to work are:
- Appointing a Return to Work Co-ordinator
- Developing and implementing a Return to Work Plan
- Supporting and monitoring the worker.
Employers need to ensure that constructive lines of communication are maintained between the injured worker, the worker’s treating health professional and others involved in the return to work process to establish an agreed return to work plan and to ensure that changes to the worker’s status are responded to promptly. The Return to Work Plan should set out the assistance the injured worker needs to return to work and the duties the worker will be able to do so they can remain at work or return to work as safe and as quickly as possible.
Can a worker return to work early after a workplace injury?
If possible, workers should try to stay at work during their recovery period doing duties that will not aggravate their injury and are suited to their capacity. The worker’s treating health professional has an important role in helping to determine the workers capacity for work.
If a worker is unable to return to work immediately after their injury, the earlier a worker can get back to work the faster and more lasting their recovery is likely to be.
Treating a workplace injury is much like treating a sports injury. Doctors know that the earlier they can get an injured sportsperson back into training, the faster the recovery.
Who can help the worker get back to work?
Getting back to work after an injury requires teamwork involving the worker, the worker’s treating healthcare professional, the employer and possibly a WorkSafe agent. Communication between all parties is the key to a successful return to work.
The worker’s treating healthcare professional can help in the worker’s recovery by discussing suitable work options with the worker’s employer so that the worker can stay at work and return to normal duties as soon as possible.
An employer can help the worker by providing suitable duties that suit the worker’s level of work capacity and informing the worker and treating healthcare professional of any changes in the workplace.
And most importantly the worker can help by ensuring communication lines are kept open between the employer by keeping their employer informed of recovery progress and any difficulties they may experience along the way.
The Agent can assist by reiterating and confirming the roles each party plays in the process, advising of the obligations and ensuring the important lines of communication are well maintained.
What is a Return to Work Plan?
A return to work plan is an employer’s written action plan, explaining how they will help an injured worker stay at work while they recover, or return to work as soon as possible. The injured worker has a better opportunity for an early return to work if the employer develops and implements the plan promptly.
A Return to Work Plan is an easy to read document that can be used as a communication tool between all parties.
The Return to Work Plan’s key functions are to:
- enable early planning for return to work;
- set goals and expectations for all parties involved, and;
- outline a course of action for how that will be achieved.
A Return to Work Plan should always be developed together by the employer, injured worker and the injured worker’s treating healthcare professional, where possible.
What is an Offer of Suitable Employment?
If the injured worker has some capacity for work, but cannot return fully to their normal role, the Return to Work Plan must include an Offer of Suitable Employment. An Offer of Suitable Employment is a written job offer based on duties the injured worker can do, taking into account the injured worker’s current work capacity and medical advice. These duties will need approval from the injured worker’s treating healthcare professional.
Suitable employment could mean the injured worker does different duties to their normal work or that changes are made to equipment or tools they would normally use. It could mean the injured worker works reduced hours whilst they recover. Suitable employment usually consists of duties that have a relationship to the injured worker’s previous role and should be structured to accommodate an increase in duties as the injured worker’s health improves.
What if an injured worker has no capacity for work?
An employer must still develop a Return to Work Plan within 10 calendar days from the date the injured worker’s claim for weekly payments is accepted or the date the employer becomes aware the injured worker will be off work for more than 20 calendar days.
The employer should keep checking the injured worker’s Certificate of Capacity and liaise with their Agent so the employer is ready to act when the injured worker’s situation changes. In the meantime, the employer cannot terminate an injured worker’s employment. The employer must keep the injured worker’s job open for them for 52 weeks. An employer may elect to continue employing an injured worker beyond this time.
Does a Return to Work Co-ordinator have to be appointed?
If an employer’s annual pay roll is less than $1 million, at the outset of each claim the employer must appoint a Return to Work Co-ordinator and tell everyone involved who that person is.
If an employer’s pay roll is greater than $1 million, the employer should have a Return to Work Co-ordinator appointed at all times. The employer should inform all their staff who this person is.
The Return to Work Co-ordinator could be a Manager, the injured workers supervisor or someone else in the company.
What are the Return to Work Co-ordinators responsibilities?
The Return to Work Co-ordinator is responsible for dealing with injured workers in a supportive and effective way, maintaining good relationships with them, as well as managing the return to work process.
The Return to Work Co-ordinator should have the ability to liaise with all parties as part of the return to work process. These parties include: injured workers, treating healthcare professionals and other relevant staff.
The Return to Work Co-ordinator is responsible for monitoring the progress of the injured worker and to ensure a Return to Work Plan and Risk Management Program are developed and implemented.
Is training available for Return to Work Co-ordinators?
VWA approved training is available and we encourage all Victorian Employers to send their Return to Work Co-ordinators for training to assist them to fulfill their obligations and responsibilities effectively.
Click here to find out more about Return to Work Co-ordinator training
