Glossary
Return-to-work program, defined
A written plan an employer keeps for bringing injured employees back on the job as soon as a physician permits, in modified or reduced duties if needed. It exists before any injury happens, so that when one does, there is a job ready.
In practice
Carriers favour it because it shortens temporary disability payments, and those payments drive most claim costs and, through them, the experience modification rate. A good plan lists the light-duty tasks each department can offer, sets a process for sending the physician a description of them, and names who calls the employee each week. Some carriers offer a premium credit for having one, and a documented refusal of a suitable modified job can suspend wage benefits under many states' rules. The plan also reduces litigation, since employees who stay in contact with their workplace are less likely to hire counsel. It is not the same as a light-duty assignment; the plan is the policy, the assignment is one instance of it. The analysis reviews an employer's plan alongside its loss runs to see whether it is actually being used.
A worked example
Suppose a distribution centre has thirty employees and one forklift injury a year. Without a plan, each injured employee stays home for eight weeks at $600 a week of benefits, $4,800 per claim. With a plan offering a seated inventory job from week two, the benefit runs one week, $600, and the employer pays regular wages for the seated work. Over five years the difference is about $21,000 in claim costs, and the experience modification rate reflects it. Hypothetical figures.
Applies to: Workers' Compensation Insurance