Your return-to-work responsibilities
When a workplace injury or illness happens, we’ll help people with work-related injuries and illnesses get back to safe and suitable work and get their employers back to business as usual.
| If you are an employer | If you have a work-related injury or illness |
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You have a responsibility to:- Log in to your online services account to report a workplace injury or illness.
- Get in touch with your employee as soon as possible after the injury or illness.
- Stay in touch with your employee throughout their recovery and return to work.
- Try to provide suitable work. Suitable work is work that:
- is safe,
- is productive,
- is within your employee’s functional abilities, and
- matches your employee’s pre-injury pay as closely as possible
- Provide us with any information we request about your employee’s return to work.
- Offer to re-employ your employee if he or she can perform the essential duties of the pre-injury job or other suitable work.
- Let us know of any disputes or disagreements between you and your employee about their return to work.
- Co-operate in the return-to-work process. If you choose not to co-operate in the return-to-work process, we may fine you for non-co-operation. Read more about what happens when you don’t co-operate in the return-to-work process.
| You have a responsibility to:- Get medical treatment immediately after a work-related injury or illness and follow the recommendations of your health-care professional.
- Report your injury or illness to your employer as soon as possible.
- Get in touch with your employer after your first health-care treatment to begin talking about your return to work.
- Stay in contact with your employer throughout your recovery and provide them with information on your progress. Try to touch base regularly and keep a record of when you contact your employer.
- Work with your employer to identify suitable work opportunities. Suitable work is work that:
- is safe,
- is productive,
- is within your functional abilities, and
- matches your pre-injury pay as closely as possible.
- Provide us with any information we request about your return to work.
- Let us know about any significant changes in your medical condition or income. If you’re not sure whether a change is significant, get in touch with us. You have to tell us about any significant changes within 10 days of the change happening.
- Significant changes can include:
- Returning to work;
- Starting to receive other income or government benefits; or
- Important updates in your medical condition.
- Let us know of any disputes or disagreements between you and your employer about your return to work.
- Co-operate in the return-to-work process. If you don’t co-operate in the return-to-work process, we may make a finding of non-co-operation, which could affect your benefits (e.g., benefits can be reduced, suspended or discontinued).
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Our responsibilities
- Provide you with information to help you understand:
- what to expect throughout the return-to-work process;
- what is expected of you;
- your rights and responsibilities; and
- who to ask for help.
- Monitor progress and co-operation.
- Get and clarify information on functional abilities.
- Help resolve any difficulties and disputes throughout the process.
- Decide whether you need our return-to-work services and if needed, provide return-to-work services to help arrange suitable work. This could include worksite visits to evaluate ergonomic and functional work capacity.
- Make all claim-related decisions.
Using the Functional Abilities Form
We need functional abilities information to help you plan a safe and suitable return to work. The Functional Abilities Form for Early and Safe Return to Work (PDF) provides information about a person’s physical condition and their ability to work. A request for the form should only come from a person with a work-related injury or illness or their employer and should only be completed when planning a return to work.
The treating health-care professional (e.g., doctor, physiotherapist) will complete the form. The health-care professional will identify a person’s ability to walk, stand, sit, lift, and perform other work-related tasks. This information helps identify jobs that a person can perform within the limits set out in the form.
For more information on the Functional Abilities Form, read the
.
More information
