Incidence of Long-Term Disability Claims In Ontario

Each long-term disability (LTD) claim made by an employee increases the potential costs to the person or company that has employed that same worker. That fact highlights the reason that all employers in Ontario should pay attention to the latest findings on the increase in the number of incidences of long-term disability, within that particular Canadian Province.

What steps should employers take, in light of the increased incidence of LTD claims from employees?

Arrange for adequate staffing, whenever a worker has gone been granted LTD benefits. Share with other members of the staff the plans-in-place for preventing development of issues that would relate to a decided understaffing. Of all the possible steps, this one appears to elicit the largest level of cooperation.

• Support EAP (Employee Assistance Program). EAP offers advice and assistance to employees that are dealing with a specific problem.
• Provide employees with the chance to take advantage of flexible group insurance plans.
• Arrange for distribution of clear explanations, for any options that have been made available to the employed workers.
• Acquaint employees with the rehabilitation services that can be used by any temporarily disabled/handicapped worker.

Be more accommodating, when a worker on LTD has chosen to return to work. Accommodations for a returning worker might be phased in gradually, especially if the same worker agrees to work a shortened day. Changes to be made, after someone has taken an LTD leave, usually have to be put-in-place in a hurry.

A closer look at why some employees choose to submit an LTD claim

Some workers that are receiving short term disability payments want to have a longer period in which to recover. That desire pushes them to submit an LTD claim. Injury Lawyer in Waterloo know that employers can limit use of that practice by insisting on utilization of tests, so that worker must prove that he or she remains disabled.

Of course, if the test shows the failure of rehabilitation services to correct the tested disability, then the employer must accept that test result. On the other hand, if the same test shows that the disability has been corrected, then an employer has reason to anticipate a return-to-work by the tested employee.

In either case, employers should keep in mind the rules, regarding a worker’s response to on-the-job demands, after returning from an LTD leave. That just-returned worker might get sick. If that happens before the passage of 6 months, then the returned but sick worker can go directly back onto an LTD plan.

In light of those rules, employers should not fight the increased number of submissions of an LTD claim. It helps to eliminate the possibility that some returning worker might resume an earlier LTD status.