Studies have confirmed that returning employees to work as soon as possible after an illness or injury is one of the more effective forms of rehabilitation. A Return-to-Work program should enable the ill or injured employees to return to full productivity and potential much earlier in their healing process. The program also reduces workers’ compensation costs and helps ensure cost-effective administration of this aspect of employee benefit plans.

It is the intent of this policy to provide employees who have become ill or injured on-the-job with the best possible recovery program so that they can return to work with minimal emotional and financial disruption in their lives. The District endorses this Return-to-Work policy that endeavors to return ill or injured workers to their regular assignments as soon as possible. The goal is to maintain service to students and the employees’ sense of job security, while reducing premium costs and temporary disability payments.

This policy will also be extended to employees who become ill or injured off the job to the extent possible and reasonable.

In order to return ill or injured employees to the job as soon as possible, the District will attempt to provide temporary modified work tasks or hours tailored to the physical capabilities of employees who are ill or injured. Employees will be asked to perform only those job functions that their medical provider has agreed can be safely performed during the recovery process. All alternative and modified job assignments will be structured to meet the physical capabilities and therapeutic needs of the employee.

The success of the Return-to-Work program depends on all employees and supervisors understanding and adhering to the roles and responsibilities outlined in this policy.

District:

1. Establish clear, consistent return to work policies and procedures.
2. Provide all employees with orientation/training in the District’s Return to Work program.
3. Ensure that the District’s Return to Work policies and procedures are uniformly followed.
4. Report all workers’ compensation claims to the administrator in a timely manner.
5. Where appropriate, direct injured employees to established preferred provider networks.

Supervisor:

1. Understand and adhere to the District’s Return-to-Work program.
2. Ensure that their staff receive a thorough Return-to-Work orientation and that they understand the District’s Return-to-Work program and procedures.
3. Report on-the-job injuries immediately to Human Resources and Environmental Health & Safety.

Ill or Injured Employee:

1. Report all injuries, no matter how slight, immediately to your supervisor.
2. Inform your medical provider of the District’s Return-to-Work program.
3. Return to work following medical treatment and report to your supervisor. If it is not medically possible to return to work, report to your supervisor via telephone as soon as possible following your medical evaluation.
4. Report to work in your temporary or modified job assignment following a temporary or modified job offer by the District.
5. Follow your medical provider’s recommendations with respect to established work restrictions, limitations, therapies, and physical capabilities.
6. Return to your regular work assignment as soon as your medical provider deems it safe.

Medical Verification includes 1) a brief history of the injury/illness, 2) the exact diagnosis or diagnoses of the condition(s) from which the employee suffers, 3) the medical provider’s factors of disability, including any work restrictions that would preclude the employee from performing the essential functions of his/her regular duties, and 4) a prognostic opinion as to when the employee may fully recover from the condition.

Restricted-work Activity - When an employee is temporarily disabled as a result of an illness or injury and unable to perform his/her usual and customary job duties, the District may assign the employee to a restricted-work activity within the work restrictions as determined by the employee’s medical provider. The Restricted-work Activity may be a modification of the employee’s usual and customary job or a job outside the employee’s classification.

Release to Work, as determined by the employee’s medical provider, is when the employee returns to their usual position/classification without restrictions and without loss of status.

Program Coordinator for the Return to Work Program will be the District’s Environmental Health & Safety Specialist.

PROCEDURES

Return-to-Work Resulting from an On-the-Job Illness or Injury:

1. A report of the employee’s work injury is completed on site, the supervisor completes an Injury Report and the Employer’s Report of Occupational Injury or Illness, and the reports are forwarded to the District office.
2. The employee is sent to either the District’s designated medical provider or, if the employee notified the District in writing prior to the date of injury, to her/his personal physician.

1. The District’s designated medical provider will be notified that the District has a Return-to-Work program and may have a modified work assignment available.
2. Employees who gave the District written notice prior to the date of injury of their personal physician will be provided with a letter reminding them the District may have modified work assignments available, and the physician will be notified by the District of the District’s Return-to-Work program.

1. Once the employee receives treatment, he/she shall obtain a medical verification of their physical condition, including limitations, anticipated date of release, and types of modifications/restrictions requested. Medical verification shall be sent to the District’s Return-to-Work coordinator who will forward the original to the Human Resources office and a copy to the employee’s supervisor. Unless the physician gives the employee a full release, the employee may be considered eligible for temporary or modified work assignment.
2. The coordinator, in conjunction with the employee’s supervisor, will look for a temporary or modified work assignment within the parameters indicated by the treating physician for work restrictions or modifications. If the treating physician does not indicate work restrictions or modification, or if the physician’s restrictions are vague or unclear, the coordinator may contact the physician for clarification or to see if modified duty may be appropriate.

a. If the medical verification and/or the physician report lists restrictions, a conference will be held between the coordinator, employee, and supervisor to determine if the employee can return to his/her regular job assignment within restrictions.

b. If the employee is not able to return to her/his regular job assignment within the restrictions, the coordinator, with the assistance of the employee’s supervisor, will look for temporary modified duty assignments available within the District at the employee’s normal campus location.

c. If no temporary restricted-work activities can be found, the employee will be placed on temporary disability, sick leave, or other available leave until an appropriate modified position within the medical restrictions is found, or the medical restrictions are changed or lifted.

3. A letter notifying the employee of temporary restricted-work activity will follow within five (5) days of oral notification. The notice shall include that temporary modified work assignments shall only be granted for limited periods of time, not normally exceeding eight (8) weeks.
4. In providing a temporary restricted-work activity, the District will typically assign employees to perform tasks that are at or below their regular assignment, and during such assignments will be compensated at their regular rate of pay and/or in conjunction with temporary disability benefits as prescribed by law. The employees may be assigned temporary duties above their regular assignment. During such times the employees will be compensated at their regular rate of pay and/or in conjunction with temporary disability benefits as prescribed by law. All temporary modified Return-to-Work assignments are just that—temporary—and carry no loss or change in position, status, or benefits.
5. The employee shall commence her/his temporary restricted-work activity as of the date prescribed on the medical verification and in accordance with the directions of the coordinator. Absent a physician’s change in medical status and/or diagnosis, failure to report to work on the designated date shall be considered abandonment of position and/or insubordination.
6. The coordinator shall monitor all injured employees’ "date of release" pursuant to their medical verifications and return them to their regular job assignments at that time. The coordinator shall also monitor an employee with an "off work order" from the treating physician for a possible return to a temporary restricted-work activity at a later date.

Return-to-Work After an Off-the-Job Illness or Injury:

1. After an illness or injury that occurs off the job, the affected employee should contact his/her supervisor and the District’s coordinator to request a return-to-work in a temporary modified position.
2. The employee must provide the District appropriate medical verification from his/her treating physician. At this point the procedure for Return-to-Work for an off-the-job condition is the same as that of an on-the-job condition.

Approved by Board of Trustees: July 11, 2000