By Janna Steinthorson, CHRP

Have you ever come across two disability management cases that were exactly the same?  No, I haven’t either.  Every case is different and they always have a unique twist to them, making the administration or accommodation issues timely and complex.   I recently attended a BC HRMA roundtable on disability management and it got me thinking.  What are some ways to develop a claims process and maintain a working claims system?

If you are starting to develop a disability management system (including STD, LTD and WCB claims), review your current process to find any important gaps. Look at some of your previous claims and try to determine why or where they lost time.  Was it because you weren’t able to accommodate them or did communication fall between the cracks?  Once you look at the gaps, you can start to develop a system that works for you and your organization. So what are some tips to help? 

• Keep regular contact
  Schedule time each week to review claims and add reminders to your calendar for any important dates including medical appointments, end of STD period and moving to LTD, etc.  Also in the communication process, make sure to always listen to your employees and take note of opportunities for return to work options.
• Keep claims centralized. 
  If you plan on leaving claims with departmental managers, be prepared for inconsistencies.  Most managers tend to be quite busy and may not understand the importance of keeping in contact and having employees return to work as quickly as possible.  Some managers can tend to view these workers as an inconvenience if they have limitations or restricted hours. 
• Keep employees as involved as possible. 
  When you have your routine communication with your employees, notify them of any announcements, changes or functions that are coming up.   Make them feel like they are still a valued part of the company.
• Don’t be afraid to discipline
  Having trouble getting a hold of your employees that are off work on claims? If you can document that you have had repeated attempts at contacting the employee and they are not returning your calls, it can become a conduct issue.  A good way to judge is the three-strike rule; contact three times — possibly even try the emergency contact — and you should be safe to start with discipline.

At the roundtable, there were some really great ideas for disability claims management including:

• Give manual cheques.  Employees must come in the office and sit down with the Payroll and Benefits Manager and go over any updates with your claim.
• Talk to your resources internally or locally!  You may be able talk to your facilities department and easily modify your workstations.  Or your managers may have some light projects that never seem to get done that could be a great light duty project.
• Invite WCB to your worksite for an open house.  This will allow them to get a better understanding of your work environment, the challenges and potential improvements.

What about you?  I’d love to hear some great, unique ideas that have worked for you…

 Janna Steinthorson, CHRP, is a Human Resources advisor with The City of Kamloops and a member of the Central Interior Advisory Council for BC HRMA.  Janna is a generalist with over six years of progressive Human Resources experience in both unionized and non-unionized environments.