In British Columbia, amendments were made to the Workers’ Compensation Act in January that affected return to work for injured workers. All employers and workers must cooperate with each other and WorkSafeBC to ensure an injured worker can return to their pre-injury role, a comparable role, or other suitable work within the company. There is now a “duty to cooperate” – which applies to workers and employers. The duty to cooperate means that workers and employers need to cooperate with each other and WorkSafeBC to make suitable work available to workers in a timely and safe manner following their injury. Your employee must cooperate with you to identify which modifications should be made to their job duties to ensure they can reasonably execute these duties. They cannot unreasonably refuse work when you make it available to them. You must make the necessary changes to accommodate your employee’s abilities after their injury to perform new or modified duties.
There is also the “duty to maintain employment”. If an employee is injured off the job and you regularly employ 20 or more workers and have employed the injured worker for at least one year prior to their injury, you must maintain that worker’s employment. If a worker is fit to return to the role they held before their injury, you need to offer either the pre-injury work to the worker or a comparable alternative.
If the injured employee is not complying with their modified work requirements, you can contact WorkSafeBC to intervene. Long story short? You are required to provide modified work to all injured workers, whether they were injured on or off the job. Thank you for your question!
-OHS Insider Staff
