Say Yes To Written Return-to-work Programs

Many fast food restaurants are hesitant to create written return-to-work and modified duty programs. Much of this, in my experience, stems from the idea that it creates some type of contract with the employee which forces the employer to offer return-to-work when it may be detrimental to the operations. Although this could be true of a plan that wasn’t well done, it shouldn’t be true if you are doing the work on the front end to truly think through your operations. In addition, your insurance broker should be able to assist you with language that can serve to guide your managers on what is appropriate while allowing for space to modify for relevant variables such as staffing, shift variations, and education/capabilities of the particular employee. Moreover, when you fail to create a written return-to-work program you give up these two key benefits:

Time Efficiency- when there is no written system, requests to return to work with restriction require input of a store level supervisor and then approval of an owner/operator or management level personnel. When the system is written, decisions are easier and the decision-making process can be flat and therefore more efficient.
Consistency and Scalability- if you are an owner/operator with multiple stores and/or operating in multiple geographic areas it can be difficult to be consistent in your responses. When you are not consistent you leave yourself open to additional litigation via the ADA or other laws. Having a playbook allows you to be consistent with these requests where situations truly are similar. Also, a well written plan will have prompts of what needs to be documented to justify any variations still allowing you to have the appropriate documentation should you need it.