CSUDH DISABILITY MANAGEMENT PROGRAM
California State University Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) recognizes the inherent value of all its employees. As a result, CSUDH is committed to the retention of our employees, even when injuries or illnesses intervene and threaten their ability to work productively.
CSUDH has therefore adopted a comprehensive Disability Management Program to enable, whenever feasible, injured and/or ill employees to return to work as quickly and safely as possible after the onset of an injury or illness. The Disability Management Program facilitates this return to work through close communication between employees, appropriate administrators, and the medical community.
The Disability Management Program utilizes the input
of a team of individuals, including employees, appropriate administrators, a Disability
Manager, and others to facilitate (temporary) Transitional Employment with the
hope that this will help employees return to their regular employment. The Disability Management Program also
provides a process for attempting to reasonably accommodate those injured/ill
employees who are ultimately found unable to return to their regular job
without some kind of Reasonable Accommodation.
The Disability Management Program respects the dignity
and value of every employee of CSUDH.
Employees, appropriate administrators, and CSUDH’s Transitional
Employment Team share in the responsibility to ensure the safe and timely
return to work of employees whenever medically possible.
It is the policy of CSUDH that all employees with occupational or non-occupational injuries/illnesses will (if feasible) be returned to regular work as quickly and as safely as possible. Under this policy, CSUDH will establish and utilize a Transitional Employment Team to develop Transitional Employment Plans whenever necessary to facilitate the Disability Management process. These plans will be updated, monitored and enhanced on a bi-weekly basis. Plans will be initiated for each individual employee as soon as it has been made clear that the employee can safely return to some kind of transitional duty, and will continue as long as the employee continues to improve and progress towards return to work at regular employment.
While there is no specific time limit to the potential length of a Transitional Employment Plan, these plans will generally be short term in nature. A full evaluation of the continuing suitability/viability of Transitional Employment will be conducted when any Transitional Employment Plan has lasted 90 days.
It is also the policy of CSUDH that the employee
will always be an active partner in the Transitional Employment process. The progress of each plan will be documented
regularly to insure consistency and follow-through. Transitional Employment duties will relate to the specific skills
and abilities of individual employees, and the work provided will always have
value to CSUDH and to the employee.
It is also the policy of CSUDH that when it is clear
that an employee will be unable to return to his or her regular job as a result
of permanent or long-lasting limitations relating to his or her injury or
illness, that the Transitional Employment Team will intervene and provide a
thorough evaluation of whether this person is a “Qualified Individual with a
Disability” under the ADA, and if appropriate, of Reasonable Accommodation
alternatives.
The employee will always be involved in this
process. Furthermore, because of the
technical nature of Reasonable Accommodation, it is CSUDH’s policy that a
reasonable effort will be made to accommodate injured/ill employees with
permanent or long-lasting limitations within the guidelines of the Americans
with Disabilities Act (ADA). This
process will be documented as necessary to reflect the good faith efforts of
CSUDH. If an injured/ill employee with
permanent limitations is ultimately unable to be accommodated, CSUDH will
ensure a final review of related issues by Human Resources, the ADA
Coordinator, and legal counsel.
All full-time and part-time regular employees of CSUDH are governed by this policy. Excluded are volunteers and those individuals for whom CSUDH is not the employer of record.
· Training of managers, appropriate administrators, and employees in Disability Management philosophy and policies and procedures.
· Creation of Transitional Employment Team to include Disability Manager/ Workers' Compensation Representative, Human Resource Representative, Safety representative, and ADA Coordinator. As needed, members will include injured/ill employees and appropriate administrators who would attend only those portions of Transitional Employment meetings that directly affect them.
· Schedule regular Transitional Employment meetings whenever there is an employee who either is involved in Transitional Employment or in need of Transitional Employment.
· Adapt documents to facilitate the Transitional Employment process, including the following:
à CSU Activity Analysis
à Transitional Employment Plan
à Transitional Employment Tracking Form
à Reasonable Accommodation Checklist
·
Report Injury:
To ensure that proper medical treatment and referral to a health care provider is
accomplished, a appropriate administrator or designee shall report all injuries
immediately.
· Transport Employee for Medical Care: Whenever possible, the appropriate administrator or designee should offer to transport the injured/ill employee to receive medical attention. The reason for this step is to demonstrate support for the injured/ill employee. In addition, it ensures that the physician who cares for the injured/ill employee can, after completing the treatment process, speak with the appropriate administrator or designee and discuss what parts, if any, of the regular job the worker can still perform. However, discussions with the appropriate administrator or designee must be limited to information necessary to facilitate return to work. Diagnosis, prognosis, and most treatment information cannot be released without a demonstrable need to know. Should the treating physician be willing to return the injured employee immediately to regular or modified duty, the appropriate administrator or designee will facilitate the process at that time.
If the physician is not able to release the injured/ill employee immediately to regular or modified work, the appropriate administrator or designee will arrange for a follow-up contact with the employee within 24 hours.
It is important to arrange a meeting with Transitional Employment Team members and other appropriate individuals as quickly as possible to develop options for a Transitional Employment Plan.
· Maintain Contact and Communication with Injured Employee: If the injured/ill employee is unable to return to work quickly, the appropriate administrator or designee should arrange for regular contact with injured/ill employee to provide support and necessary information until the employee is able to return to transitional or regular employment. These communications between appropriate administrator or designee and injured/ill employees will not be utilized for investigative purposes or to obtain medically confidential information such as diagnosis, prognosis, or pre-existing conditions.
· Create Transitional Employment Plan: As soon as it appears that the injured/ill employee may be safely released to some kind of duty, the injured/ill employee should be included in a regularly scheduled or special meeting of the Transitional Employment Team to develop a Transitional Employment Plan. The plan will specify the following:
à Start and end date of transitional tasks.
à Specific tasks to be performed.
à Signatures
of the appropriate administrator, Disability Manager,
and injured/ill employee.
à Timeframes for recontact with medical care provider.
Duties will at all times consist of tasks that are of value to CSUDH and also therapeutic in nature in order to maintain the employee’s fitness (while not endangering the employee’s safety).
Tasks should be as close as possible to the employee’s regular work. However, if this is not possible, other alternatives should be considered, utilizing the following guidelines for choosing appropriate tasks:
à Focus on unique skills and abilities of the employee.
à Within the parameters of the applicable Collective Bargaining agreement, consider duties outside of the employee’s regular department or classification.
à Provide tasks that add value to work normally provided by CSUDH.
à Provide training or other on-the-job learning experiences to help enhance the skills of an injured/ill individual.
à Allow injured/ill employee to impart their skills through either direct training or demonstration to other employees.
à Provide employees with valuable projects that need to be completed.
· Monitor Transitional Employment Plans: Transitional Employment Plans will be progressive in nature. When medically appropriate, plans will provide enhanced and more challenging duties on a regular basis until the employee is ready to go back to regular employment. The plan should be reviewed on a weekly basis in Transitional Employment Team meetings. Duties should generally be changed at least every two to three weeks, consistent with changes in the employee’s release and physical capabilities as provided by the treating physician.
· Evaluate employees who cannot return to regular employment: In some situations, an employee will clearly be unable to return to regular employment as a result of the severity and permanence of the injury or illness. In such situations, CSUDH will evaluate the employee to determine if the employee is a “Qualified Individual with a Disability” in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The Transitional Employment Team may initiate this referral to appropriate CSUDH staff. Injured/ill employees must always be active participants in this process and their opinions and input will be solicited whenever possible.
If the injured/ill employees cannot continue their employment with CSUDH, they will be referred to appropriate alternative resources.
The procedures outlined herein will be partly or wholly modified in certain situations. An example of this would be when the employee requests medical leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). For details of this and other potential exceptions, the CSUDH representatives should contact Human Resources.
This program is not to be considered an explicit or implied contact between CSUDH and any employee or group of employees. Transitional Employment assignments will not be available in all cases. Risk Management/EHOS reserves the right to adapt, modify, or abandon this policy at any time for any reason with or without notice to any employee.
Transitional Employment Plan and Transitional Employment Tracking Forms
Transitional Employment Plan
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Employee Name |
Department |
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Supervisor |
Regular Job
Title/Class |
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Physical
Capacities/Limitations |
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Date
Limitations Began |
Next Review
Date |
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Plan Specifications |
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Start Date |
End Date |
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Describe job
and/or specific tasks: |
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Describe
hours/day and days/week, including progression schedule: |
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Special
considerations: |
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This Transitional Employment Plan has been reviewed and discussed with me to clarify any questions I may have. I have been provided with a copy of this plan and I understand my supervisor will retain a copy. Should I experience any difficulties while performing transitional work, I will immediately contact my supervisor. |
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Employee
Signature |
Date |
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I
have reviewed and discussed this Transitional Employment Plan with the
employee. In addition, I have provided a copy of the plan to the employee. |
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Supervisor
Signature |
Date |
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Disability
Manager |
Date |
TRANSITIONAL
EMPLOYMENT TRACKING FORM
Week of
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Employee
Name |
Dept. |
Injury |
Title
of |
Current
Capacities/Limitations |
Date
of Next Doctor Appt. |
Working Yes/No |
Plan
Start Date |
Plan
End Date |
Action/Comments |
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