Gillis W. Long Center Safety and Loss Prevention Training

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Gillis W. Long CenterSafety and Loss Prevention
Training

• Early Return to Work

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Purpose

• The health and well-being of all employees is of
  great importance to the Military Department. It
  is well documented that injuries affect the whole
  person and that effective rehabilitation and
  treatment must address the whole person. Part of
  that treatment includes keeping physically and
  mentally active within the restrictions of a
  particular injury. The Military Department will
  make every effort to help employees maximize
  their healing and facilitate their early return
  to work.

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Applicability

• Consistent with the intent of the Office of Risk
  Managements Return to Work policy for permanent
  employees on Workers Compensation, the Military
  Department will make a reasonable effort to
  return to the workplace those permanent employees
  of the Military Department who have sustained
  job-related injuries or illnesses, and as a
  result are temporarily or permanently prevented
  from returning to full employment. If the injury
  or illness constitutes a disability, policies
  regarding reasonable accommodations may apply.

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Objectives

• The Office of Risk Management (ORM) has the
  responsibility for the administration of claims
  for medical and disability benefits to employees
  who are injured on the job and the coordination
  of the early return-to-work program, including
  light duty or alternate duty assignments.
• ORM will work in close cooperation with the
  Military Department Human Resource Department. To
  return permanent employees to the workplace, the
  Military Department will make a reasonable effort
  to place returning employees into meaningful
  assignments, which they can perform while on
  light or limited duty.
• The Military Department cannot guarantee
  placement and is under no obligation or offer,
  create, or encumber any specific position for
  purposes of offering placement. All final
  decisions regarding placement shall be made by
  the Adjutant General.

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Placement

• First priority for any placement offered will be
  within the employees directorate.
• Second priority will be for placement within
  another directorate. The employee will be advised
  by Human Resources of alternate duty chosen and
  will be assigned such duty for a period normally
  not to exceed six months per injury.
• At the six month limit, an assessment by the case
  management team is required

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Policy

• It is the policy of Military Department generally
  not to allow overtime status to individuals
  working under this program. While implementation
  of this policy is the ultimate responsibility of
  the agency, it will require cooperation among
  Directorates, Human Resource staff, legal staff,
  and the employee.
• It will be the responsibility of the ORM to
  articulate the employers obligations under the
  Workers Compensations laws. Other offices may be
  consulted.

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FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY

• The salary and benefits of the injured employee
  will be the responsibility of the original
  employing unit.

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Specific Protections

• The Military Department receives an annual
  assessment for Workers Compensation costs. This
  assessment is based on both employee exposure and
  claims experience and is allocated to divisions.
• Thus there is an incentive to reduce Workers
  Compensation lost time payment costs.

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Its their Right!

• The ADA prohibits an employer from retaliating
  against an applicant or employee for asserting
  his rights under the ADA. The Act also makes it
  unlawful to discriminate against an applicant or
  employee, whether disabled or not, because of the
  individual's family, business, social, or other
  relationship or association with an individual
  with a disability.

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Who would not be covered?

• The first part of the definition makes clear that
  the ADA applies to persons who have impairments
  and that these must substantially limit major
  life activities such as seeing, hearing,
  speaking, walking, breathing, performing manual
  tasks, learning, caring for oneself, and working.
  An individual with epilepsy, paralysis, HIV
  infection, AIDS, a substantial hearing or visual
  impairment, mental retardation, or a specific
  learning disability is covered, but an individual
  with a minor, non-chronic condition of short
  duration, such as a sprain, broken limb, or the
  flu, generally would not be covered.

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Why was ADA initiated?

• Barriers to employment, transportation, public
  accommodations, public services, and
  telecommunications have imposed staggering
  economic and social costs on American society and
  have undermined our well-intentioned efforts to
  educate, rehabilitate, and employ individuals
  with disabilities. By breaking down these
  barriers, the Americans with Disabilities Act
  (ADA) was enacted to help enable society to
  benefit from the skills and talents of
  individuals with disabilities, to allow us all to
  gain from their increased purchasing power and
  ability to use it, and to lead to fuller, more
  productive lives for all Americans.

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Things we must do

• A qualified applicant with a disability is an
  individual who, with or without reasonable
  accommodation, can perform the essential
  functions of the job in question. When you help
  create or update job descriptions, pay attention
  to what the essential functions of the job are.
  Reasonable accommodation may include, but are not
  limited to
•       Making existing facilities used by
  employees readily accessible to and usable by
  persons with disabilities
•       Job restructuring, modifying work
  schedules, reassignment to a vacant position or
•       Acquiring or modifying equipment or
  devices, adjusting modifying examinations,
  training materials, or policies, and providing
  qualified readers or interpreters.

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Questions?