Temporary transitional work assignments policy for workplace injuries

Purpose

The purpose of this document is to provide standardized guidelines for current City of Oakland (COO) practices for providing employees injured at work with an opportunity to return to work at the earliest, medically approved opportunity.

Background

Employees who experience a workplace injury or illness are often temporarily disabled from performing their regular duties and can be absent from the workplace for extended periods of time. These periods can result in an employee losing compensation and valuable service credit. These periods can be shortened or eliminated by offering a temporary transitional work assignment (TTWA, otherwise known as “modified duty”) that includes other appropriate work that the employee can safely perform while they are recovering. Early return to work is often a key to faster recovery, to maintaining the employee’s productive connection to the workplace, ensuring the economic well-being of employees1, and recognizing contributions a temporarily disabled employee may make to their organization. TTWA’s include temporarily adapting the employee’s usual job or locating a temporary assignment outside of the employee’s normal work area while the employee continues to recover. Early return to work also ensures that departments can address important service needs by offering meaningful and productive work assignments to address outstanding tasks or functions, thus reducing overtime for those employees who must cover for the absent employee and reducing disability costs to the department.

Policy

All departments are required to develop a program for temporary transitional work assignments (TTWA) to ensure that all employees who have sustained an occupational injury or illness are returned to work at the earliest, medically approved opportunity. Departments will work in conjunction with the workers’ compensation claims examiner, the employee’s supervisor, the employee’s treating healthcare provider, NPA Return to Work Specialist, and the City’s Disability Benefits Coordinator to offer temporary transitional work assignments that are consistent with the temporarily disabled employee’s medical restrictions and occupational skills and abilities.

City departments must identify appropriate TTWA and tasks that could be offered to employees with temporary work restrictions. These assignments are provided for 90 days with the possibility of extending for a total of 180 days if the employee continues to show improvement as they transition back to full duty. Except for sworn public safety officers who are subject to general orders, tasks assigned may or may not be consistent with the employee’s job classification so long as tasks are not generally handled by employees in higher classifications. Employees will receive their regular pay for hours worked in the TTWA program by the at-injury department. Should employees be released for part-time work, workers’ compensation temporary disability benefits will supplement the employee’s wages on a wage-loss basis if applicable.

Employees who refuse to accept an appropriate temporary transitional work assignment may no longer be entitled to workers’ compensation temporary disability payments. Department coordinators should immediately advise the workers’ compensation claims adjuster, and the City’s Disability Benefits Coordinator of the employees’ refusal and the steps that were taken to provide the temporary transitional assignment. The claims adjuster will provide notification to the employee if the refusal results in a discontinuation of temporary disability benefits. This policy does not exclude the provision of temporary transitional work assignments for non-occupational injuries/illnesses, nor is it intended to locate or provide permanent modified positions for employees with permanent work restrictions.