If you’re injured or made ill at work, we’ll help you return to safe and suitable work and help your employer get back to business as usual.
If you have a workplace injury or illness you have a responsibility to:
- Get medical treatment immediately after your workplace injury or illness and follow your health care professional’s recommendations.
- Tell your employer about your injury or illness and any medical treatment you received as soon as possible.
- Report your injury or illness to us.
- Contact your employer after your first health care treatment to start talking about your return to work.
- Stay in touch with your employer throughout your recovery and provide them with updates 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 that:
- is safe
- is productive
- is within your functional abilities
- matches your pre-injury pay as closely as possible
- Provide us with any information we request about your recovery and return to work.
- Let us know about any significant changes in your medical condition or income within 10 days of the change happening. If you’re not sure whether a change is significant, get in touch with us.
- Significant changes can include:
- returning to work
- starting to receive other income or government benefits
- important updates in your medical condition
- Let us know about 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, it could affect your benefits (e.g., benefits can be reduced, suspended, or discontinued).
If you are a business and your employee has a work-related injury or illness, check out the return-to-work responsibilities for businesses.
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
- 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 them to help arrange suitable work. This may include worksite visits to look for any risks, opportunities for improvement, or modifications and accommodations to make it easier and safer to return to work
- Make all claim-related decisions
Cooperating in the return-to-work process
It’s important to understand your responsibilities in the return-to-work process. We’re here to support and guide you, but if you choose not to co-operate, it could affect your benefits.
For example, if you don’t co-operate, you may get a penalty. This means we will reduce your loss-of-earnings benefit by 50 per cent, starting 10 business days after we send you a written notice.
- If you still don’t cooperate 14 calendar days after the penalty starts, we may suspend all your wage loss benefits and cancel any return-to-work training assessments or plans.
- Your full benefits will start again the day after you let us know you’re co-operating.
Using the Functional Abilities Form
The provides us with information about your physical condition and your ability to work. Only you or your employer can ask your treating health care professional (e.g., doctor, physiotherapist) to complete the form, when you are planning your return to work.
The completed form will let us know about your ability to walk, stand, sit, lift, and perform other work-related tasks. This information helps us to identify jobs that you can do.
For more information about the Functional abilities form, read the .
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