Injured driver, returning to work soon

[just interested]

(posted under union issues originally, but thought maybe it belongs here instead - sorry for the double post)

If my doctor(s) prescribe a return to work with modified driving schedule, such as Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday to start the 1st few weeks; Mon/Wednesday/Friday/Saturday the next few weeks in order to transition back to work after being out of work and in therapy for a little over a year, will my supervisor have to honor the medical return to work prescription?

This injury is not workmen's comp - it was off the clock.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[bottomups]

Won't happen!
You will need to be returned to work unrestricted before they will take you back for a non-work related injury!

 

[yeldarb]

They wont take you back for anything less than 100%.

 

[menotyou]

That's why they have work hardening therapy.

 

[just interested]

Work hardening is not covered under my health insurance and the description for physical therapy to be medically necessary is to return me to the status of health I was in prior to the injuries......so, how to duplicate a UPS job performance while attending PT for 1 hr/day, once or twice a week, is not going to cut it. PT needs to readjust their typical services, not call it work hardening so that I'm covered by my health insurance, and make sure I can last a full 10 1/2 hour day.

 

[menotyou]

Well, that's what Liberty Mutual pays for when full time drivers need therapy that brings them back up to full duty. Can't help you with you off the clock injury and being a casual.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Work hardening is not covered under my health insurance and the description for physical therapy to be medically necessary is to return me to the status of health I was in prior to the injuries......so, how to duplicate a UPS job performance while attending PT for 1 hr/day, once or twice a week, is not going to cut it. PT needs to readjust their typical services, not call it work hardening so that I'm covered by my health insurance, and make sure I can last a full 10 1/2 hour day.

I have an idea. Have your wife stand right behind you and yell at you constantly while you are mowing the lawn/cleaning the gutters/clearing out the basement or garage/painting the living room/sealing the driveway, etc., should get you ready for your return to a typical UPS work environment.

Seriously, your doctor's recommendation of a modified work schedule would not fly---you need to be 100% ready to rock and roll when you return.

 

[HBGPreloader]

A driver in our center, who was injured outside of work, is currently working inside performing light duty tasks. I'm not sure of the number of hours he works, but they did change his schedule to allow him to work within his current abilities.

 

[just interested]

A driver in our center, who was injured outside of work, is currently working inside performing light duty tasks. I'm not sure of the number of hours he works, but they did change his schedule to allow him to work within his current abilities.

Wow! I wonder if that's due to your own area's union contract? Do you mind sharing what area or facility this is occurring within? Thanks for sharing!

 

[menotyou]

A driver in our center, who was injured outside of work, is currently working inside performing light duty tasks. I'm not sure of the number of hours he works, but they did change his schedule to allow him to work within his current abilities.

T.A.W. is in the master contract. Depending on your center manager/DM, the can enforce the 30 rule. Read your contract and see what your supplements allow. I only know what my DM allows. They have become more lenient with TAW since I went back out on comp. But, I have had 2 rounds of work hardening, which I believe was the OP's question. They can mimic your work environment, whether it's Preload or driving. I have been through both. http://www.canimedicalcomplex.com/. That is where I did my therapy.

 

[yeldarb]

We had a driver a few years back who got a dui over a weekend, recieved a 30 day DL suspension, and UPS let him work in the hub for those 30 days.

 

[menotyou]

They change the rules when ever it suits them. No one can rule anything out because UPS will do what ever they want whenever they want.

 

[old levi's]

They change the rules when ever it suits them. No one can rule anything out because UPS will do what ever they want whenever they want.

Do you mean like this? (reprint from another post)

1. It's their game.
2. They make up the rules.
3. They also cheat.

 

[menotyou]

Thats about the size of it. I have 9 days left of TAW, according to the 30 day rule. Had they allowed me to work one day last year, I could have received my vaca pay from the year before. Not after I irritated the new labor sup/former finance manager back when he was finance manager. He hated paying double pay grievances, even when you were cheated out of your pay because center manager's code you the wrong way in order to make a number.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

There is something to be said for staying under the radar.

 

[menotyou]

There is something to be said for staying under the radar.

So, if they under-paid you by $500-600 that you could prove(there was a lot more), and no matter how many pleas you made to your direct sup, then your center manager to no avail, you would just toss your hands in the air and say whatever?

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Come in, do your job, keep your mouth shut, things tend to work out for you.

Come in, act the fool, things tend not to work out for you.

 

[menotyou]

So, instead of just answering the question, you- yet, again-choose instead to take an opportunity to slam me. You are a bully. You, and people like you, are the exact reason I choose not to just 'do my job'. Instead, I became a union steward to protect people from management that act just like you. I guess when you are hired off the street and don't actually earn the job, you wouldn't understand how hard it is inside. And, I am no fool. Shall I return the favor and call you exactly what I think of you? If you think you will succeed in bullying me, you are sadly mistaken.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

I did answer your question. You just didn't care for the answer.

Things go much more smoothly when you stay under the radar.

 

[menotyou]

No, you did not answer the question about being under paid and what you would do about it.