The Connection Magazine The Connection Magazine Spring 2017 | Page 29

INJURIES IN THE WORKPL ACE
MODIFIED DUTY:
The Benefits For Injured
Workers and Employers
Lisa Grilo
Lisa Grilo has been with A.I.M. Mutual
for more than 22 years and holds the
position of Regional Claim Specialist
Supervisor. She heads a team of Regional
Claim Specialists who work in the field
investigating workers’ comp claims
and defending cases at the conciliation
level of the litigation process.
AT A.I.M. Mutual Insurance Companies, we believe in having
a Stay-at-Work/Return-to-Work™ program, and we strive
to be at-the-ready to assist policyholders in their efforts to
create modified duty programs. We believe that the sooner an
employee returns to work, the better the recovery outcome.
Preparedness is important when thinking about the
implementation of a modified duty program. Knowing what the
transitional duty jobs are going to be before an injury occurs and
making sure your workers are aware of these jobs allow for an
easier move from regular duty to modified duty. Injured workers
who aren’t able to work often become bored, depressed, or
anxious, which doesn’t bode well for a positive outcome.
Several factors need to be considered when thinking about
bringing someone back on modified duty. The most important
is that if employees continue to come to work everyday, the
likelihood that they will become malingerers is greatly reduced.
They will continue to feel a part of the organization, be less apt
to hire an attorney, and may even recover into their regular job
more quickly. The longer injured workers are out of work, the
harder it is to bring them back.
Finding work for an injured e mployee is not an easy task.
Doctor-imposed restrictions that state “one-handed work, only”
seem impossible to meet. What if a worker is the only person in
the facility that knows how to do a particular job? Sometimes it
seems easier to just say, “Come back when you can do full duty.”
Easier, maybe; wiser, maybe not.
How does a company prepare for a potential modified duty
situation? The shortest route to a modified duty program is
determining how to modify individual jobs. Can some functions
be farmed out to other departments or temporarily eliminated
for the short-term? Are there other positions within the
company that could take on additional job duties while a worker
is on restricted duty? For some workers, modified duty is more
desirable than their regular job, so it is also important to set a
limit on how long modified duty will last.
The benefit to planning a true job modification is that it keeps
injured workers in their own jobs during the recovery period.
Setting out to create these modifications can at first appear
daunting, but with some brainstorming and creativity, modified
duty jobs can be constructed. Ideally, these jobs would alleviate
some pressure in other areas of your facility, free up some time
for other tasks within the department, and set up slots for
injured workers to fill should the need arise.
SPRING 2017
Workers who are treated at an occupational health facility
often come back to work with “capability” notes rather than
“disability” notes. Having an occupational health facility adds
trained professionals to your Stay-at-Work/Return-to-Work™
program.
Keeping injured employees at work greatly reduces the
cost of claims. It also avoids long-term disability for workers
who might prefer to be at work rather than at home. And it
is a deterrent to those workers who might be looking for an
opportunity to take a few days off. Maintaining employees’
sense of worth and allowing employees to feel productive will
not only benefit them, but it will create an opportunity for the
employer to get a return on its investment: a salary for getting
a job done rather than disability benefits for a worker who is
sitting at home collecting a paycheck.
For more information on modified duty, visit our forms library
at www.aimmutual.com to download our Stay-at-Work/Return-
to-Work™ booklet.
www.aimmutual.com
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