Worker’s Compensation What is Worker’s Compensation? Workers' compensation is a form of insurance providing wage replacement and medical benefits to employees injured in the course of employment in exchange for mandatory relinquishment of the employee's right to sue his or her employer for the tort of negligence.

Workers’ Comp [WC] “Red” Flags An Injury Encompassing a Weekend An Un-witnessed Incident Prior Claims History Disciplinary Action Announced or Pending Layoff Refused Request for Time Off Recent Family Illness or Other Developments Denial of Work-Related Requests Co-worker with a Pending Claim

Supervisor Responsibilities Before an injury or illness Occurs: The major roles supervisors play in proactively ensuring workplace safety and health fall into four areas. Behavior Encourage safe behavior — Continuously encourage safe behavior through positive reinforcement and enforcement of your workplace safety rules. Discourage unsafe behavior — Discourage unsafe behavior through employee coaching and feedback. Adopt a management style that does not condone (either spoken or unspoken) risk-taking behavior.

Supervisor Responsibilities Before an injury or illness Occurs: Evaluate performance — Provide individual employee feedback through assessing their safety behavior during performance evaluations. Set safety performance goals as a part of every annual performance evaluation. Discipline — Use the formal employee discipline process when necessary.

Supervisor Responsibilities Analysis and Improvement The methods/processes for evaluating the safety and health risks in a workplace can be simple or complex; the important thing is to DO the evaluation Use evaluations to improve . Be sure to use two people that are valuable in this process: the affected employee and the campus safety manager, Jesse Decker (phone 608-342-1188)

Supervisor Responsibilities Analysis and Improvement (cont.) Encourage active safety culture participation by employees. Some ways to do this include: Conduct periodic safety meetings with employees. Encourage self-inspections of the workplace among employees. Ask employees to report unsafe conditions immediately. Provide multiple means for employees to bring forward suggestions, concerns, or reportable incidents.

Supervisor Responsibilities Analysis and Improvement (cont.) Evaluate employee safety successes and failures, and discuss these successes and failures routinely with your manager. Use results from evaluations and analyses to improve work conditions, processes, and procedures

Supervisor Responsibilities Before an injury or illness Occurs (Cont) Training Provide appropriate training on worker safety and health practices for yourself and your employees. Retrain if employee behavior indicates it is necessary. Document the training. Periodically conduct documented safety inspections. Use your findings from the inspection to guide new improvements in behavior, targets of future analysis, and topics for training.

Supervisor Responsibilities Before an injury or illness Occurs (Cont) Inspection Periodically conduct documented safety inspections. Use your findings from the inspection to guide new improvements in behavior, targets of future analysis, and topics for training.

Supervisor Responsibilities After an injury or illness Occurs If one of your employees sustains a work-related injury or illness, the worker’s compensation program is in place to provide financial coverage for treatment and time lost from employment. When this occurs, you are responsible for the following.

Supervisor Responsibilities Make sure injured employee seeks medical help if needed. Initiate investigation of facts/root causes of accidents and near misses no later than 24 hours after they occur. Interview the injured worker and witnesses. Obtain information about the injury to improve work practices and eliminate reoccurrence. Notify and work with campus safety and health professionals as needed for the incident.

Supervisor’s Responsibilities After an injury Occurs (Cont) Complete and submit to your Worker’s Compensation Coordinator within 24 hours of the date of the accident: Employee’s Work Injury and Illness Report (Form 2) (from injured worker) as well as the Authorization to Use or Disclose Health Information form (Form 3) Supervisor’s Accident Analysis and Prevention Report (Form 5), Supervisor Questions (Form 6) and the Return to Work Evaluation (Form 7). If the employee seeks medical care, they need to take the ‘Medical Provider’ section of the Worker’s Comp binder to the provider for the Medical Provider to complete the following: Return to Work Evaluation-Medical (Form 9) and Work Comp Treatment (Form 10).

Supervisor’s Responsibilities **Be sure to… Communicate with employee, Worker’s Compensation Coordinator, and occupational safety/health staff assess the potential for modified duties and work restrictions periodically contact each absent injured worker directly to show concern and discuss recovery progress/return to work

Supervisor’s Responsibilities **Be sure to… Follow-up the investigation Follow up promptly to identify corrective and preventive action; Review investigation report/proposed action with facility health and safety experts; implement agreed-upon corrective action; and Communicate important investigative findings and solutions as appropriate.

Supervisor’s Responsibilities If there’s been a work rule violation: Consult with your Human Resources department regarding steps for employee discipline. If there’s time lost from work: Remind the injured employee to provide medical documentation regarding any time away from work. Submit time reports and all supporting medical forms to the Worker’s Compensation Coordinator biweekly at a minimum.

Supervisor’s Responsibilities If there are job restrictions: Arrange for alternate light duty work assignments for the injured worker and advise Worker’s Compensation Coordinator. Check your campus Return to Work program for additional information. For additional information on Worker’s Comp for supervisors and employees, please go to the following website: https://www.wisconsin.edu/workers-compensation/

Questions This is the end of the Supervisor Responsibilities section. Employee Responsibilities follows.

Employee’s Responsibilities Worker’s Compensation is a benefit program that pays for medical treatment and wages lost due to work-related injuries or illnesses. What do you do if you have a work-related injury or illness? The two most important things to do as soon as possible are to: report the injury or illness to your supervisor (employer) as soon as possible, and fill out forms(see next slide). get the medical attention you need. These and other important steps are outlined for you on UW System Worker’s Comp page at: https://www.wisconsin.edu/workers-compensation/employees/ee-if-injured/

Employee’s Responsibilities Complete and submit to your Worker’s Compensation Coordinator within 24 hours of the date of the accident: Employee’s Work Injury and Illness Report (Form 2) (from injured worker) as well as the Authorization to Use or Disclose Health Information form (Form 3) Supervisor’s Accident Analysis and Prevention Report (Form 5), Supervisor Questions (Form 6) and the Return to Work Evaluation (Form 7). If the employee seeks medical care, they need to take the ‘Medical Provider’ section of the Worker’s Comp binder to the provider for the Medical Provider to complete the following: Return to Work Evaluation-Medical (Form 9) and Work Comp Treatment (Form 10).

Employee’s Responsibilities What does worker’s compensation cover? The major areas that worker’s compensation covers are: Medical treatment resulting from your work-related injury or illness. Lost wages. Compensation for permanent disabilities. Vocational rehabilitation. For more details see UW System Worker’s Comp page at: https://www.wisconsin.edu/workers-compensation/employees/what-does-workers-compensation-cover/

Employee’s Responsibilities What will happen when you file a claim? Your injury report will start the worker’s compensation claims process. Your claim will be promptly reviewed to determine that your injury is work related. If the claim is determined to be work related, your employer will begin coverage and payment for the costs are discussed at the following link: https://www.wisconsin.edu/workers-compensation/employees/what-does-workers-compensation-cover/

Employee’s Responsibilities If your claim is denied, you will be notified.  If you disagree with the decision about a denial and cannot resolve a claim dispute with your employer, you have certain appeal rights. For more information, see: https://www.wisconsin.edu/workers-compensation/employees/limitations-denials/

Employee’s Responsibilities Fraudulent claims Collecting worker’s compensation benefits by intentionally misrepresenting, misstating, or failure to disclose any material fact is fraud. Fraudulent claims are subject to prosecution. All suspected violations will be investigated.

Employee’s Responsibilities Who assists with worker’s compensation claims on your campus? You can contact the Human Resources Office at 608-342-1178. Hollie Moore or Tanya Lux are the Worker’s Comp Coordinators. For more in depth information about the Employee’s Worker’s Compensation, please go to: https://www.wisconsin.edu/workers-compensation/employees/

Questions