Slap Consulting and Injured Workers

Betsey Nash bubble portraitOnly Human
By Betsey Nash, SPHR

No, I’m not kidding — there is a consulting group out there named “Slap.” I thought maybe someone had noticed that the longer I am in this business, the shorter my patience, and sent me a funny email, but no.
At a recent Sexual Harassment and Abuse in the Workplace Prevention training for supervisors, I warned that slapping an employee was not a viable strategy, and then last week I got this email touting a webinar about the importance of developing a strong corporate culture delivered by the Slap Consulting Group. I hope they sell T-shirts.
Please do not slap your employees. (Just getting the record straight in case I run for office someday.)
I was asked recently if an employer should let an injured employee return to work before they were fully recovered. “Quick question,” they said. “Long answer,” I replied. If you can answer “Yes” to these questions, I think bringing them back is a good idea:
Do you have a “modified duty” program in place to provide them with work that is productive but does not pose a risk to the employee?
Is there “light duty” available? Not make-work, but real tasks that need to be done?
Are they disgruntled? Are they sitting home watching daytime TV with all the ads for workers comp attorneys?
Offering modified work to injured employees is one way to keep your X-Mod or experience modifier/rating that rules your workers comp insurance rates low, but you will have to pay your employee at least 85% of their regular salary. Shouldn’t be a hard choice – pay your employee or pay the insurance company?
You don’t have to bring them back, though. An employer is not required to modify the existing job, create a similar job or even provide a job that the employee likes. If modified work is offered and the employee refuses to do the work, the employee runs the risk of being denied temporary disability payments by your workers’ compensation insurance carrier.
Why would you not want an employee to return before they have fully recovered?
• You don’t have any work for them to do;
• You are not convinced they wouldn’t reinjure themselves;
• The worker may be in the way, more trouble to supervise than they’re worth, and/or upset that they are being made to complete “menial” tasks.
As I said, “long answer.” And that’s just for employees injured at work.
If you have an employee out on leave for a non-work related illness or injury, it is a much more difficult decision as to you whether you let them return to work before they are fully recovered.
If they make their injury worse, you just “bought it.” It is probably now a worker’s comp injury.
Can you supervise them to be sure they don’t lift more than they are supposed to? If they are a gung-ho worker who doesn’t want to sit around watching TV all day, are they too gung-ho to follow their doctor’s limitations?
Don’t forget that when an injured or ill employee returns from leave, the employer is obligated to discuss viable work-arounds to any limitations they may have. The Americans with Disabilities Act (and California’s version, too) clearly obligate the employer to accommodate an employee in order that they can perform their essential duties, unless doing so places an unreasonable burden on the employer. The sooner they return, the more you may have to accommodate.
Of course from the employee’s perspective, the worst thing that can happen is that you can do without them. Please, please, please speak with an employment attorney before you terminate an employee who is out on leave. Even if the leave is not protected, that is, not FMLA, or California’s version of the same, you should be very careful before letting someone go.
There are laws that dictate much of what we can and can’t do with our employees, but within their boundaries we have a lot of leeway in how we can make sure that both the employee and employer’s needs are met. Your corporate culture is a vital part of this. If you’re having trouble developing a good one, I can recommend a Slap.

Betsey Nash, SPHR, is a long-time human resources professional, former president of the Human Resources Association of the Central Coast, and serves as vice president of the SLO County Civil Service Commission. She can be reached at: . Only  Human is a regular feature of Tolosa Press.