Return to Work 101 video: Text transcript with description of visuals

So, life of a claim. This is, this is kind of the way that we sum up what a claim goes through from the time you, as an employer, submit that first Form 7. So, your reporting will go to our claims registration team. The work-related injury first enters the system in claims registration to the eligibility program. And then this is where they consider the initial entitlement piece. There are two types of cases. There's simple and complex. Simple cases are things like, you know, a fall, like someone trips and falls. There's a specific incident, soft tissue, and those will be resolved pretty quickly and don't require a lot of back and forth or communication with us. Those are low touch. They will go through the online adjudication process or what you might know it as e-adjudication. If a case doesn't fit that criteria, and there's no objection by anyone on the file, it will stay in there. 

If there is an objection in the in the claim is more complicated or needs some digging, it'll go to an Eligibility Adjudicator, and they will be the ones to review the claim. They might make calls to you, if the claim gets allowed, they will start the payment or benefits – so, health care or loss-of-earnings benefits. One thing to note that we're still getting the word out, in 2023 – fall of 2023 – we did change the way that we're doing the payment reporting. It used to always be the four weeks prior. Now, we're taking the two paycheques prior, which is kind of – we're noticing as we’re getting that, it's helping us make that calculation to get that payment out sooner and we've got a lot of good feedback from that. So, if you weren't aware, you can do that as well.

Okay. At the time that the claim is allowed, if the person hasn't recovered from their injury, it will get sent to a Case Manager. So, it goes into short term. The short-term Case Manager will confirm entitlement. By this point, there's medical on the file, so we have a diagnosis that's already been allowed or an area of injury that's already been allowed, and we're now making a decision. If that diagnosis went from, you know, a soft tissue sprain strain to a fracture, you'll see a Case Manager do those sorts of things. They'll facilitate return to work and they facilitate recovery. So, in all your conversations with case managers, you would typically have – you'll know the questions they're asking are things like “when can a person or what can this person do outside of their regular duties?” They're going to try to negotiate with you, get some information about the job, and they'll also let you know what we're doing in terms of the recovery. For that return-to-work piece, the case managers do work really closely with the return-to-work specialists, and we'll provide them with that initial information about the job and the functional abilities that that worker has.

Case managers also work with the Recovery Nurse. The Recovery Nurse is there to make health care decisions and dental decisions. And then they facilitate the referrals to our specialty programs, which I'm sure you've seen. Kelly is going to go into the return-to-work piece., but when a referral does happen, a Return-to-Work Specialist will go to the site or do a phone interview, and they create a plan for return to work that the Case Manager would then pay as per the plan. Like I said, Kelly, we'll go into that in more detail.

Lastly, there's the claim resolution. So, that's when the recovery has reached maximum – the maximum recoveries have been reached. You might hear our case managers call it MMR –maximum medical recovery. At that point, the claim gets closed and then the recovery piece is done. And the return-to-work piece, whether it's with that same employer or not, is resolved. That's the life of a claim. Do you want to go to the next slide?

Dana is in the top right-hand corner of the screen and is speaking. Slide titled “Life of a claim,” appears. Content on screen:

We follow the case management framework on behalf of the rights of people with claims and their employers. Through communication and relationship building, we focus on supporting people with recovery and return to work so they can return to what matters most. 

1. Claims registration

Registering a claim starts by reporting an injury, illness or exposure. 

2. Eligibility decision

There are two types of cases:

• simple cases (i.e., slips, trips or falls) with no delay in reporting the incident or receiving medical attention
• complex cases, which require inquiries to arrive at a decision 

3. Case management

Following initial entitlement, if the person hasn’t recovered from their injury, case management activities will begin. These activities include payment, return to work and recovery monitoring

4. Claim resolution

Resolution in a case happens when the person who was injured or ill reaches maximum medical recovery and returns to work.

There is a small icon of a laptop with checkmarks on it underneath “2. Eligibility decision.”

So, just to get into the role of a Case Manager a little bit more. They work really closely with the injured or ill workers to support them in return to work, looking at the abilities and ensuring modified work is suitable. This information comes from the functional abilities forms, the clinical notes that are received in file, and conversations with the injured person to translate their activities of daily living into functional abilities.

And I want to point out here that, as an employer, that form is really important because that is the piece that communicates to the Case Manager, Return to Work Specialist. The employee and your, disability people at your job, to get on the same page and understand what this person's abilities are. So, when you have that conversation with the Case Manager for the first time, they might go really in detail with you – and they're supposed to – about what the person's job is and what it entails. So, like are they reaching, what position is their body in? You're going to have a case managers ask you a lot of those questions because they're going to try to translate that on that functional abilities form to see if they can start that return-to-work conversation.

Case managers will also then set up some goals that – the goals will relate to both the medical information that we have on file; so like, you know, we have a spring strain of four to six week recovery anticipated, so that's the time frame we're going to try to work in to get that person back to their full duties. And then, of course, they plan activities in collaboration with the workplace parties, the treating health practitioners, and then once everybody's on the same page, if those goals need to be changed for any reason, the Case Manager will notify you of that and that will get updated on the file. And then when required, they'll arrange and monitor their return to work with the Return-to-Work Specialist, which is what Kelly is going to speak about now.

Dana is in the top right-hand corner of the screen and is speaking. Slide titled “Role of a case manager,” appears. Content on screen:

• work closely with people who are injured or ill and their employers to support return to work, looking at the person’s abilities and ensuring modified work is suitable
• set return-to-work and recovery goals
• plan activities in collaboration with workplace parties and treating health-care professionals to achieve return-to-work and recovery goals
• when required, arrange and monitor return to work with a Return to Work Specialist

Dana is in the top right-hand corner of the screen and is speaking. Slide titled “Role of return-to-work specialists,” appears. Content on screen:

Provide information on the return-to-work process as well as education on rights and obligations.

Identify potential obstacles to return to work and the intervention(s) required to overcome them and achieve the return-to-work outcome.

Help the parties involved develop a plan to help people return to the pre-injury job with or without accommodations.

Provide advice, vocational rehabilitation planning and support coordinating return to work, which may include more accommodations and/or transition to a different job in the business or with a new business.

There is an icon of a hand holding a heart beneath the first paragraph and an icon of two hands held together in the shape of a heart beneath the third paragraph.

Dana is in the top right-hand corner of the screen and is speaking. Slide titled “Role of return-to-work specialists,” appears. Content on screen:

Provide information on the return-to-work process as well as education on rights and obligations.

Identify potential obstacles to return to work and the intervention(s) required to overcome them and achieve the return-to-work outcome.

Help the parties involved develop a plan to help people return to the pre-injury job with or without accommodations.

Provide advice, vocational rehabilitation planning and support coordinating return to work, which may include more accommodations and/or transition to a different job in the business or with a new business.

There is an icon of a hand holding a heart beneath the first paragraph and an icon of two hands held together in the shape of a heart beneath the third paragraph.

Yeah. Thank you. So, as Dana had mentioned, even though a referral comes to a Return-to-Work Specialist, the Case Manager and Return to Work Specialist, they work together, collaboratively, on the return to work. The Case Manager continues to manage the file. They look at the medical, they determine what functional abilities, that are still being used. So, it's not that they – when they make a referral, it just goes to return to work specialists and that's it. They work collaboratively. And the Case Manager continues to be that sort of, that person that deals with like the quarterback of the case.

So, some of the things that the return-to-work specialists will do:

Number one, they provide information on the return-to-work process for workplace parties, education on the rights and obligations for both the worker and the employer, so that everybody knows what to expect, right? So, the difference is we actually – the return-to-work specialists go on site. So, if it can be negotiated generally on the phone, the Case Manager can kind of deal with that. But when it needs more assistance, they'll send that to a Return-to-Work Specialist who's going to go out, meet with the workplace parties face to face, look at the work. So, it's important for us to go out and see the work and meet face to face and kind of help deal with some of those issues. While we're out, we also look at the jobs as well to help facilitate that return to work.

The Return-to-Work Specialist helps identify potential obstacles to the return to work and, interventions required to overcome them and achieve return to work outcomes. So, sometimes it's hard to know exactly what the obstacle is. Workplace parties will need support to help work through those things. So, the role is really a facilitative role. We're not there to direct everybody on what to do. The Return-to-Work specialist is there to facilitate a discussion about return to work. They have the knowledge, and understanding of what best practices are, and they'll help workplace parties work through that.

They'll help all parties involved to develop a plan to support people return to the pre-injury job with or without accommodations. So, it's really that part about looking at the job, helping them identify what accommodations may support someone if someone can't return with their limitations right away to the pre-injury. They'll help support, looking for accommodations to allow that person to return. And then they help develop a plan that works for the workplace parties, and they would communicate that in writing to the workplace parties, as well as send that to file so the Case Manager can manage if there's any difference in payment and understands where the case is at. 

And then they also our Return to Work Specialist also provides advice of vocational rehabilitation planning and support coordinating return to work, which may include more accommodations, which I just kind of touched on, and possibly transition to a different job in a business, in the business or possibly a new business. I'll go into that in a little bit more detail and what supports that we can offer. So next slide there, Jen. 

So, there's kind of two different sort of phases where a Return-to-Work Specialist can support. There's early support, right? So, an injury just happened or is fairly new and the early support that they're involved in is early intervention to identify and mitigate return -to-work barriers. They act with a sense of urgency to ensure all involved parties are engaged and educated about their return-to-work responsibilities. If you don't know what your responsibilities are, how do you know? How can you meet them? So, it's important that they are giving you that education and making everybody understand what their responsibility is. As I say, you can't meet it if you don't know what it is. So, they'll help you support that. 

And using appropriate tools, resources to address barriers in a timely manner. So, things like I mentioned, the on-site meeting, I think that's really key to facilitating a return-to-work plan. They do, they really look at the job, the pre-injury job, generally, first – look at what the pre-injury job involves and really help try to identify what those relevant physical or cognitive demands are. So, things like, how much lifting is involved, how much carrying do they have? Are they able to sit and stand, like alternatively, or is it all weight-bearing? Is there a lot of pushing or pulling? So, it depends on the type of injury. They'll look at the job with that perspective of that injury because you really need that, you know, understanding of the relevant physical or cognitive demands to help determine whether work, if someone can return to it. So, we match that sort of, the functional limitations which the Case Manager has provided through medical documentation, and then we look at the job itself and say, is there a match? If there's not a match, then we move on to how can we fix it? So, those job accommodation solutions. 

Again, we educate workplace parties on their obligations. I'll go over that a little bit more. We negotiate timely return-to-work plans, and I think timely is important in all of this. Research does support that the earlier someone gets back to work, there's more success in staying at work. The longer people are off work and away from work, research supports that it's harder to get them back to work. So early return to work, to work that’s suitable, and a plan that makes sense for everybody is what this Return-to-Work Specialist in this early phase would help. 

We also have – the earlier return to work specialists who are helping out on the front end of the case, hey also can use functional and cognitive work capacity assessments if they need it. These are external assessments and ergonomics assessments if it's needed. So, they'll make that determination, would it be helpful. They can also have a coach – a job coach to help support that as well. So, there's some tools that return-to-work specialists in the earlier phases can use.

Kelly is in the top right-hand corner of the screen and is speaking. Slide titled “Return-to-work: early support,” appears. Content on screen:

Early support in the return-to-work process involves:

• early intervention to identify and mitigate return-to-work barriers
• acting with a sense of urgency to ensure all involved parties are engaged and educated about their return-to-work responsibilities
• using appropriate tools/resources to address barriers in a timely manner  

Early workplace services include:

• on-site meetings to facilitate return-to-work planning
• detailed job analysis
• job accommodation solutions
• education on workplace party obligations
• negotiation of timely return-to-work plans
• functional/cognitive work capacity/ergonomic assessments

There is an icon of four people in a square with arms outstretched to each other in the bottom right-hand corner of the slide.

Now, we also have – if the case is becoming longer and different support is needed or it's just taking a lot longer, we may move this to our return-to-work specialists in our segment two. So, any case that’s longer-term support for return to work with the business or helping people find work in a new, suitable job with a new employer, that's what help will be provided. And they leverage vocational rehabilitation, collaborations with the parties to achieve those return-to-work outcomes. So, the services they include – they still will go out to the workplace like same with the ones I just spoke about. There's still opportunities at the employer, it's just taking longer, then maybe take a different look. So, workplace services are still available and they'll still use those. 

They use functional cognitive work capacity assessments, ergonomics assessment and they do job coaching as well. So, at different phases of the case, one of these assessments may be needed and they'll use them as required. And then they also do transferable skills analysis vocational assessment. So, that's when it's looking like the pre-injury – maybe the worker is not able to go back to it, things are getting long, they're going to start looking at what are the injured or ill person’s education, skills, abilities, interests, that sort of thing. So, they start looking at what’s their background to see if there's some support that's needed there.

They do return-to-work plans with training. So, suitable occupations developed and they do labour market information. So again, it's that, there's likely a permanent impairment involved, someone's not recovering, they might not be able to go to the pre-injury, they'll start helping support and identify how to support that person to get back to some type of work, whether it's accommodated with the employer or a different job within the employer, possibly moving outside of that. So, vocational rehabilitation services, and then they also leverage employment services.

So, if someone has moved off the employer, they may use employment services for like resume writing, job search, interview skills, that sort of thing. 

Kelly is in the top right-hand corner of the screen and is speaking. Slide titled “Return-to-work longer support,” appears. Content on screen:

Longer return-to work support involves:

• longer-term support for return to work with the business and/or helping people find work in a new suitable job with a new employer 
• leveraging vocational rehabilitation/collaboration with parties to achieve return-to-work outcomes

Services include:

• workplace services
• functional/cognitive work capacity/ergonomic assessments and job coaching
• transferrable skills analysis/vocational assessment
• return-to-work plans with training – suitable occupation development and labour market information
• vocational rehabilitation
• employment services 

So, two kinds of different approaches. So, return-to-work considerations. Some things I think it's important, it's good for you to know. So, the return-to-work, overview, key concepts policy, it's 19 02 07 – you don't need to know that but if you go on our website and just put in, “Return to work overview,” you'll get this policy.

So, as I mentioned earlier, it's really important for employers, workers unions, to understand their obligations and this overview document provides a good idea of what the return-to-work processes are and provides some guidance on that, the key concepts underlying of what we're trying to get at. I think it's a good document to give you an overview of what we're all about and what we're focusing on in return to work.

So, some of the things that are covered in the overview and key concepts policy is, every effort should be made to facilitate an employee's return to the pre-injury job, with or without accommodation. It's always best if we can keep them at the employer, whether it's with accommodations or not. So, a lot of workers recover and everybody's back to normal. But sometimes they may need ongoing accommodation to help support that. 
When that's not possible, to focus on other suitable return-to-work opportunities at the employer. So, we don't move off the employer right away for injuries not suitable. We want to stay with the employer and continue with that relationship. So, we’ll help the employer look for other opportunities for employment. And if it's not successful, nothing's available that's safe and suitable, then we'll look for the broader labour market.

The WSIB and the involved parties really should strive to return the employee to that job. So, we have to make sure that they have the skills to perform whatever work it is. So, if it is like an alternative job within it, we want to make sure they have the skills to be able to do that. So, you know, the computer literacy to do it, language proficiency to allow them to do that. You're going to hear, for suitable work, it has to be safe, productive, consistent with functional abilities, and it has to restore the pre-injury earnings to the extent possible. So, all those things are key to having work that and identifying work that's suitable. I'll talk a little bit about that in a second.

The functional ability. So, Dana did mention functional abilities form. It is an employer document. And you can ask the injured or ill person to have one filled out. You know, you can have it done whenever you need it, but there is a cost to it. So, every couple of weeks, every two or three weeks, depending on if someone's recovering, it's like early on, you might want to see it every two weeks. If it starts to get prolonged, you may not want it every two weeks because nothing's changing, the recovery is a bit slow. So, it is an employer document and you're allowed to have access to that. And what that gives – so it really gives an idea of what their functions are like, what are their limitations. So, how much can they lift. Can they lift 10 pounds from floor to waist, but less than that overhead? Can they push 20 pounds? Can they stand for 30 minutes and sit for 10? It's all those. If they have a shoulder injury, can they work above shoulder height but they're okay below? So, it kind of gives all those of details because if you don't have that, you can't do the match with the job. And that's the piece that the Case Manager will look at and determine which ones we’re accepting. So, those are the functional abilities. 

And, again, that is important to the next point here, which is suitability for pre-injury or modified work. You can't determine suitability if you don't have a good understanding of what the functional abilities that we’re accepting and the Case Manager can help you and will give you a written notice of what we're accepting as well.

So, for work to be suitable, I mentioned it before, it has to be safe, which makes sense, right? It's safe for everybody. It has to be productive. So, you have to be willing to pay someone for that type of work. It can't be like sort of a made-up thing. So, it has to be a productive work. Consistent with the employee's functional abilities. Again, that's a piece that you have to have to determine if there's a match. And, we're looking to restore, to the greatest extent possible, the pre-injury earnings. So, all those things – when we say suitable, that's what we're referring to, and it does speak to that in the, in the policy. 

If work is not suitable, there's lots of different types of accommodation that could help support that. It could be – and it varies depending on, for different people, different injuries, right? But it could be just like they just need reduced, like maybe not doing all the pre-injury duties. They can maybe do three out of four of them. Can you extend the time on those three duties, to allow them to return to work? So, maybe just pulling out a duty. It could be adding in, if someone has, like, a lower leg injury, they may need to be able to sit down a bit more. So, you know, can we look at putting in a stool or is there ways to allow them, maybe give them something else that allows them to sit down for a break and then be able to get back up? So, it really does vary. It could be, as you know, if it's too heavy, can we split the load? Can we raise the height of the lifting to make it more – if it's a low back, you don't want them lifting at floor level. So it could just be a conversation and, you know, putting, like, the skid on for other skids to raise them up, right? 

So, accommodations, it's endless. There's lots of different types and ways to accommodate and we would help support you. That's why we really want, you know, return-to-work specialists to get out there and help you support that. 
And the last piece here in considerations is duty to accommodate. So, there is a duty to accommodate. During the return-to-work process, businesses and, when relevant, unions and employees, are expected to comply with the Ontario Human Rights Code and for our federally regulated businesses, the Canadian Human Rights Code.

So, businesses with cooperation and reemployment obligations – which, I'm not going to go into all those details, but the Case Manager would certainly be able to support and let you know whether there's reemployment obligations, cooperations and all the cases. So, you have a duty to modify the work to accommodate the employee's needs to the extent of undue hardship. And we’ll help you work through that. Return-to-work specialist case managers are good at understanding what that means. We're there to support you through that. So, while we can talk you through what all that means. We do have a reemployment department, but we really help employers work through that.

If an employee can perform the essential duties of the pre-injury job with accommodation, or if a job becomes available that can be made suitable through accommodation and the accommodation doesn't cause undue hardship, the business must provide the accommodation to allow the employee to remain at work. So, it's important – and as I say, it could be, like, they could have temporary restrictions and we still would expect that through the duty to accommodate.

During the cooperation and reemployment obligation periods, businesses may have to accommodate requirements beyond the work-related injury and disease. So, human rights legislation protects employees from discrimination on many grounds, including disability, sex, creed, ethnicity, and family status, and age. So, human rights obviously goes beyond the job, the work-related injury as well.

Kelly is in the top right-hand corner of the screen and is speaking. Slide titled “Return-to-work considerations,” appears. Content on screen:

• Return-to-work overview and key concepts policy
• Functional abilities
• Suitability for pre-injury duties or modified work
• Duty to accommodate

There is an icon in each box for each bullet point. The first one is an icon of a laptop with checkmarks on the screen. The second one is an icon of a clipboard with a medical plus symbol in the center. The third is an icon of a wheelchair. The fourth is an icon of two people shaking hands.

Kelly is in the top right-hand corner of the screen and is speaking. Slide titled “Best practices for a successful claim outcome,” appears. Content on screen:

• Workplace culture
• Good employee/employer relationship
• The person who is injured or ill is engaged and motivated
• Employer supports

At the centre of these best practices is collaboration on recovery and return to work.

There is an icon beneath each bullet point. The fist icon is of a smiley face, a neutral face and a sad face. The second icon is of a star linked to three people. The third icon is of a thumbs up. The fourth icon is of a hand holding a heart.

Thanks, Kel. So, we'll just go over some best practices for a successful claim outcome. And it really, it is that relationship that you have with your employee. The actions that a business and employee take when a workplace accident happens will contribute to the outcome of a claim. Workplace culture is a strong contributor that motivates someone to return to work. If you have a good workplace culture that's supportive when someone's injured, you'll find that the individual is motivated to return to work. Good employee-employer relationships also often lead to an engaged employee who's motivated to return to work.

Finally, strong employer support will help maintain the return to work program or, in the case of mental stress cases – for example, having supports available immediately after an exposure, not just after an actual accident – will strengthen the relationship with the employee.

At the center of it all is collaboration on recovery and return to work. There should be constant communication and collaboration from the beginning of a case and well beyond. From check ins when someone is off work just to say hi, to inviting them to visit with their colleagues, all of this can have a positive impact on the return-to-work process. Fostering a positive environment when the individual feels supported and safe to return to work will result in a successful claim outcome.

Well, thanks for sticking with us through the presentation, Jen, anything in the Q&A?

We've got a couple of questions as well, that I would like to pose to you, Dana and Kelly. We don't have anything else in the chat. There is one about whether the recorded presentation is going to be available. I'm just working on getting that answer, and then I'll type it in the chat. But for now, for case management, Dana, I'd like to kick us off with some questions for you. 

When a case transfers to case management, what are the first steps that are taken by a case manager? And what can that employer expect from the WSIB in those early days?

Thank you, Dana. Before we move into the return-to-work pieces I was going to ask Kelly, we do have another question in the chat. Keep them coming by the way, if you have any questions, we definitely want to be able to post them and get some answers for you.

So, a question is, “When an improved WSIB case employee accepts work with another employer and resigns from the current employer, what are the subsequent impacts if that employee eventually resigns from their new employment? My understanding is that the original employer continues to own the WSIB case and is billed accordingly.”

Yeah, sure. So, the case manager will set it up with both workplace parties to let them know that they are referring it and that another person will be contacting them because sometimes it's like, it can be confusing if you're dealing with someone and another party starts calling you from the Board. So, they will set that up and they'll let you know also what the case manager is accepting, in terms of the medical and what functional abilities that they have agreed that the injured or ill person has at that point.

So, the Return-to-Work Specialist, I mentioned earlier, that we really do believe in getting out early and getting someone back, recovering at work, it's really key and best practices do support that. So, the Return-to-Work Specialist is required, if they get a referral, to call you within the day and try to set up that meeting within nine business days. So, we really do – it's there for a reason, you know, get out as soon as we can. The longer we wait, the harder it is. So, they will, look to try to book out within nine business days. That's sort of our standard. And they'll go out and, again, deal with any of the barriers to the return to work. And, again, getting out on site and looking at the job really helps support finding work and determining whether that work is within the limitations or not. They also will help mitigate the barriers, find accommodations, and then they, either set a return-to-work plan and break it down into, like, sort of a weekly, what they're going to do, or they'll set a threshold.

So, maybe the worker is not able to return to work at that point. Maybe the injuries is too new, we couldn't find a way or accommodation to get them back to their pre-injury at that point, but they'll set a threshold. So, if the job requires lifting, they can lift five pounds now, but when they can lift 20 pounds, they can start returning to work.

So, they'll set that threshold if they can't get a return to work right away. And really, being on site, working together, we're not directing it. We're just helping support and getting your help and they should be bringing, any issues forward – barriers, obstacles – the workplace party should bring them to the meeting. And, I have to say, any time when we're meeting together, you learn so much, and I think people almost forget when they're away from work how much they do miss work. The social part of it, just being part, getting up in the morning, getting them there. So, it's really important to sort of bring everybody together. And the Return-to-Work Specialist will help. So, they'll have the meeting, they'll look at the work with everybody, they'll resolve the issues, and then they'll set the plan and they'll document that and share that with everybody as well. 

So, the principles of return to work are the same, but they have a few more tools and their approach does change slightly. So, even though the earlier time we do work with the case manager and the nurse, but it becomes more sort of ingrained. They see each other, they talk to each other a bit more because it's that collaborative, ‘what's going on in terms of treatment, what's slowing down that recovery, possibly? What, from the return-to-work end, what are some of the barriers?’ and the case manager has that input as well. So, they work together to understand functional abilities, the treatment and what are some of the return-to-work concerns. So, they do a lot of case conferencing together. If they need to, they can involve their managers as well.

So, the Return-to-Work Specialist also collaborates more closely with the treating health providers to get a really good understanding of the progression and next steps in terms of treatment. So, they have a better idea and they can communicate that to workplace parties so everybody's sort of on the same page. The Return-to-Work Specialist can view the return-to-work plan with the treating health professionals. So, that's helpful to understand so that they have a clear idea of what the goal is at the workplace party, what you're trying to get them back to and what accommodations are available for a successful return to work. The Return-to-Work Specialist continues to use in-person return-to-work meetings to help deal with some of the workplace party issues. And making sure – I think the big part is, communication is key throughout the whole process and working together, and they still deal with accommodations as well because things change as recovery happens, so we're always looking for those accommodations. The Return-to-Work Specialists always also encourages frequent communication to address things as quickly as possible. If someone's back at work and it's not going well, communication – let the Return-to-Work Specialist and the Case Manager know so we can deal with that. The Return-to-Work Specialist could also utilize physical and cognitive job coaches to provide more support. And, again, at any point they can use external ergonomics assessment, functional work capacity assessments – which we use an external party if we can't come to a decision and there's a dispute about suitability, they can make that referral to have an external party come in and do a functional work capacity assessment. And they have lots of tools in their toolkit for helping someone determine what the next step if the pre-injury’s not suitable and how to get them back to that. So, they, you know, as I said, the transferable skills they can use in employment services, and they really work with the parties at that point.

But always and throughout the case, even if someone's in training, the focus will always be on the employee to see if we can get them back to the situation that they were before their injury. So we really try to do that.