Workers' Compensation: Recovery and Return to Work (RTW)

In my view, Prevention and Rehabilitation/Return-to-Work are the two main pillars of workers’ compensation; the ‘compensation’ part is just what we do after prevention fails and before the worker returns to work.

I view the early, safe and durable return-to-work (RTW) of an injured worker as the hallmark of a successful health outcome for an injured worker. Many workers and employers are under the mistaken impression that RTW should only occur after the worker is ‘back to normal’ or ‘100% recovered’.

To help correct this impression, I often use this recovery curve diagram to depict how the workers’ compensation system works. It shows the level of health functioning (H0)the worker has prior to the work-related injury and depicts the sudden, drastic drop in health function caused by the injury. During the initial post-injury period, the worker is Totally Temporarily Disabled(TTD). As the worker recovers, there will be a point where the worker is no longer TTD but is Temporarily Partially Disabled, (TPD). During this phase of the recovery curve, many workers actually return to work. As any practitioner of Disability Management will tell you, returning to work can be an effective therapy. For many workers, the demands of their regular jobs may be met at a level of health functioning lower than (H0). This makes sense since few jobs require a worker to be at the peak of their functional health capacity to adequately and safely perform their duties.

Recovery continues until the worker reaches a medical ‘plateau’ or what some call ‘maximal medical improvement’. Most compensation systems require that temporary disability payments cease once the worker’s condition plateaus but in practice about 90% of workers return to work prior to that point.

If the worker has permanently lost some functioning, (an amputation of the hand, for example) the worker will never return to the pre-injury level (H0). A new maximal level of health functioning will be established (H1). Conceptually, the difference between H0 and H1 is a permanent functional impairment. Depending on the workers’ compensation system, this impairment may result in a permanent partial impairment based on function or translated into a Permanent Partial Disability (PPD). As long as the level of health functioning is above the requirements for the worker’s particular job, the worker can RTW; if there are parts of the job that demand more than the current level, job modifications or other strategies (like providing lifting devices, restricted duties, or shorter shifts) may allow the worker to RTW during TTD).
RTW to the accident employer is usually the best alternative. Some systems (Ontario and Victoria Australia are two examples) require employers to take injured workers back into employment while others (British Columbia and Washington State for example) do not have such ‘mandatory reinstatement’ provisions in their legislation.

Promoting early, safe, and durable return-to-work is a priority for most workers’ compensation systems. WorkSafeVictoria recently posted videos for workers, employers and agents that continue that jurisdiction’s long-standing tradition of encouraging RTW. These videos are worth a view.