The Book
May 14th, 2008 by Margaret Spence
From Workers’ Comp Claimant to Valued Employee – Employers’ Guide to Implementing a Proactive Return to Work Program
Injured Employees Could Can Return to Work – Right?
- Order Your Copy Now!
Contrary to popular belief, Injured Employees Can Return to Work – Successfully. From Workers Comp Claimant to Valued Employee lays out a methodical blue print to help employers navigate the Florida Workers’ Compensation system and use the caveats in the law to get injured employees back to work.
Thank you for visiting our website and for your interest in implementing effective return to work programs. Visit the Resource section of the site to learn more about the book and to read a sample chapter. If you purchased the book – the forms and templates referenced throught the book can also be found in the Resource Section. (Read what others are saying about the book – Click Here) If you want to know why I wrote this book – keep reading!
When I made the decision two years ago to write this book, I was so frustrated with the Workers’ Compensation System in Florida and the readiness of our insurance carriers and employers to offer settlement to injured employees rather than getting them back to work.
I totally understand the challenges faced by employers, insurance carriers and adjusters; I sat in an adjuster’s desk for years. I understand the dynamics of working injury claim files, the manipulation that can occur and the need to settle the claim. As my supervisor once told me the best claim is a settled claim. Unfortunately, the next employee you hire could be someone else’s settlement.
Light duty immediately invokes negative feelings for most employers. I have heard countless stories from employers recanting the horrible experiences they have had as they attempted to bring injured employees back to work. I have witnessed the frustration and the surrender that occurs when injured employees manipulate the system and I have been involved in countless cases as an adjuster that made me wonder, “Why are we even doing this?” Some of the cases that come to mind include:
A client who assigned all of their injured employees to the same work area for light duty. The employees immediately developed a friendship that resulted in symptom exaggeration, defiance and litigation.
An insurance agent who asked me to review the claim file of an employee who was on light duty and managed to file three additional claims within seven days of returning to work.
A file that resulted in an employee filing an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaint after being terminated for not showing up for a light-duty job.
Several injured employees who became extremely comfortable in their assigned light-duty positions and refused to return to their pre-injury jobs.
A claim for an employee who found a new excuse every time we asked him to return to work—every time he showed up for work, his symptoms of constant pain kept him from doing any work. Finally, he got his attorney to find him a doctor that took him off work permanently.
As I wrote this book, I immediately recognized that I would have to change the way employers viewed light duty before I could motivate them to implement proactive return-to-work policies. This book had to accomplish three things:
- Change the perception of light duty.
- Quantify the cost of not implementing a return to work program.
- Provide the employer with clear steps that will result in a positive return-to-work experience.
Despite all of the negative conotations about injured employees, I feel that I can, through this book, outline the steps that you, the employer, should follow to ensure that injured employees return to work after an accident. Many companies have return-to-work programs but few realize the full benefits of the program because they omit or overlook key elements of the process.
Return-to-work programs are only effective if they are implemented with the support of upper, middle and lower management. Return-to-work programs are successful when you allow frontline employees to contribute to developing the overall plan—remember, they are the ones doing the job, their input and recommendations can be an eye-opener as you follow the steps we outline in this book. To be effective a comprehensive return-to-work program has to be implemented as a key component of a broader injury prevention and injury management program.
It is my experience and belief that employers can identity, arrange and offer productive light or modified duty positions. My goal to show you how to implement effective policies and procedures that will get injured employees back to work.
Look around the site – comment on our articles and purchase a copy of the book,let me know how your return to work program is progressing.
Margaret Spence, CWC, RMPE
President - Douglas Claims & Risk Consultants, Inc – To Learn More about Margaret – Click Here
