There are no legal obligations within the Transport Accident Act 1986 which require an employer to keep a job open for a worker injured in a transport accident.

However, there are a numerous benefits to supporting your employee’s return to work.

• Your employee will recover faster after injury; resuming employment is one of the most effective forms of rehabilitation
• You retain knowledge and skills, reducing the cost of hiring and training new staff
• You reduce the cost of lost productivity
• You help build and maintain morale in the workplace

The TAC can provide a range of supports for you and your employee to make the return as smooth as possible.

• Stay in touch with your employee and talk to them about their return to work
• Have a think about what your employee can do even if it is not their usual duties
• Be proactive, don’t wait for your employee to contact you about returning to work
• Contact the TAC if you:
  • have questions or concerns about your employee returning to work
  • would like more information on employer supports
  • have a setback during your employee’s return to work

Your role

You have an important part to play in your employee’s successful return to work. To assist your employee’s return to work you can:

• Contact your employee to see how they are recovering and stay in regular contact. This can help your employee stay positive about recovering and returning to work.
• Consider the role and tasks your employee does. If your employee can’t perform their normal duties straight away there may be other tasks they can do. Your employee doesn’t need to be fully recovered to return to work, and we can support you to ensure a safe return.
• Provide detail about your employee’s role to the TAC and your employee’s health professional. This information will help to evaluate their capacity for work.
• Discuss any barriers or support you need with the TAC.

If you are aware of an employee’s disability, legally you must provide what is regarded 'reasonable adjustments' to accommodate the needs of your employee.

Reasonable adjustments let an employee with disability safely perform the essential requirements of their job.

More information about reasonable adjustments, including policy templates and checklists are available on the JobAccess website.

Your employee’s role

Your employee is encouraged to stay in regular contact with you and update you on the progress of their recovery. They should:

• Contact you to discuss their recovery and return to work
• Discuss options of returning to work including the potential for alternate duties and/or reduced hours
• Supply you with certificates of capacity which outline their capacity to work.

The TAC

Our role is to support people injured in transport accidents, and help pay for treatment and services they need to get their lives back on track. This includes working with injured people, their employers and healthcare professionals to return to work.

After your employee’s accident, we will contact you to discuss the return to work process, this includes:

• Your employee’s potential to return to work
• The type of work and duties your employee does
• Any alternate or modified duties that are available
• Any questions or concerns you may have about your employee’s return to work
• The support we can provide to ensure a successful return to work.

Healthcare professionals

Your employee’s healthcare professional is the best person to recommend how long they need off work and when they can return. They should:

• Assess your employee’s capacity for work and recommend what they can and can’t do while they are recovering.
• Complete a certificate of capacity that will indicate whether your employee is ready to return to work. Your employee may be able to return to their normal duties or it may be recommended they initially perform modified duties or a reduced number of hours depending on how they are recovering from their injuries.
• Provide advice about any restrictions or equipment needs to support their return to work.
• Recommend how your employee should best manage a return to work, such as taking regular breaks and/or doing an exercise program.
• Contact you to discuss suitable options if required.

Return to work specialists

The majority of our clients return to work with the support of their doctor, the TAC and their employer.

Sometimes the services of an independent return to work specialist are needed to provide additional support for clients with particular needs.

They will work with you, your employee and the TAC to plan a tailored return to work plan that meets the needs of you and your employee.

Depending on your employee’s needs, the return to work specialist may:

• Conduct a worksite assessment to determine an appropriate working environment for your employee
• Assess and recommend any modifications to your employee’s duties or hours
• Liaise with your employee’s healthcare professional to ensure hours and duties are appropriate
• Assess and recommend any physical changes to the workplace or equipment
• Work with your occupational health and safety manager (if applicable)
• Develop a return to work plan and monitor your employee’s progress once they return
• Be the key contact in relation to the return to work plan

During a return to work plan, you are responsible for the usual elements of the employment relationship.

These include supervision, performance management, superannuation, industrial relations, human resources, standard equipment required for the role and all other WorkCover obligations.

Before your employee returns

1. Your employee’s return to work specialist will conduct a worksite assessment, including a productivity assessment. The initial wage subsidy will be agreed at this stage (if applicable).
2. The specialist will provide a report cleared by a medical practitioner that confirms your employee’s duties, work hours, wage subsidies and any other recommendations (e.g. equipment needs).
3. The TAC will confirm the details of the return to work plan, WorkCover premium protection and any subsidy payments.

When your employee returns

1. Your employee will start work as per the return to work plan.
2. During the return to work plan you should pay your employee only for the hours they work.
3. In the case of wage subsidies, either you or your employee should send or email payslips to the TAC. This will ensure you are reimbursed the agreed wage subsidy (for hours worked) and help us calculate any partial income benefit to be paid to our client.
4. The return to work specialist will conduct regular reviews throughout the return to work plan and will provide progress reports to all parties detailing any changes in productivity, duties and hours to be worked.
5. There is no set time frame for a return to work plan, however it will normally run for a minimum of 12 weeks. The specialist will finalise the plan once the return to work goals are achieved and sustained.

If your employee is entitled to TAC income support and you pay your employee sick or annual leave for their time off because of their transport accident injuries:

• The TAC can pay your employee's income support to you
• You can then credit the equivalent amount of sick or annual leave back to your employee

How it works

• The TAC does not pay for the first five days a person has off from work after a transport accident.
• In most cases, the TAC pays 80% of a person's pre-accident weekly income, up to a maximum amount of $1,540 per week.
• If we pay your employee's income support to you, you will receive a remittance advice. This remittance shows how much we have paid as 'leave reimbursements'.
• Register for Westpac PaymentsPlus (a free service) to access the remittance online. See Getting paid for details.
• You can then credit leave back to your employee. See below for an example of how to do this.

You and your employee need to complete the 'Authority to pay entitlement: employer form' before the TAC can start to pay you.

You should let your payroll department know about this arrangement before it begins.

The TAC can only pay you if your employee's health professional has completed a Certificate of Capacity. It is a good idea to ask for a copy of your employee's Certificate of Capacity for your records.

How to calculate the leave to credit back to your employee

The best way to credit leave back to your employee is to work out how many hours the TAC income support payment is worth.

For example:

Your employee earns $35 an hour gross.

The TAC pays $1,064 income support to you.

Divide the TAC income support amount by your employee's hourly rate. This will give you the amount of sick or annual leave hours to credit back to your employee. In this case:

$1,064 / 35 = 30.4 hours of leave to credit back.