Canadian Employment Law Today - sample

Reducing the risk of impaired employees Occupational Health Nurses on staff can help employers deal effectively with legal and safety issues caused by impairment, regardless of its cause BY DIANNE DYCK I mpairment is a problem in body func- tion or structure. e World Health Or- ganization terms it an activity-limitation — a difficulty encountered when execut- ing a task or action — while a participation- restriction is a problem experienced in life situations. is broader definition encom- passes traditional sources of impairment along with other sources such as the nega- tive effects of fatigue, shiftwork, prescription medication, over-the-counter medication, medication interactions, and aging. Disease state Illness or injury can result in employee dis- ability and manifest as activity-impairment or participation-restriction. Employees who are absent or functioning in a reduced capac- ity offer reduced productivity. Presenteeism denotes employee presence at work, but reduced productivity due to fa- tigue, illness, injury or psychological distur- bances. Presenteeism has been reported to cost nine times the cost of employee absen- teeism (Aldana, 2009). Substance-induced state Employees can be working but still be func- tionally incapacitated. Impairment varies with substance properties, dosage, user gen- der and age, length and time since use, toler- ance level, or the nature of the activity. Activi- ties involving concentration, fine motor skills, information processing, deductive reasoning, quick response time, and memory are the most impacted. Many people work two or more jobs. Our society is sleep-deprived: "Canada is the third-most sleep-deprived country, with nearly a third (31 per cent) of Canadians feel - ing like they don't sleep enough" (Avia, 2016). Each night, 33 per cent of working males sleep only four to six hours (Canadian Men's Health Foundation, 2016). is is a problem, as fatigue is associated with functional and cognitive impairment, namely, vigilance, cognitive performance, memory, problem-solving, planning, and verbal fluency deficits. ese are associated with workplace incidents — transportation accidents, injuries, medical errors, reduced quality of care, and judgement errors. Em - ployee productivity, attention to detail, learn- ing, and creativity are reduced. Shiftwork alters workers' circadian rhythm and sleep; negatively impacting worker alertness, deci- sion-making, recall, and response time. Diminished capacity state With 20 per cent of full-time workers over age 60, employers are seeing the effects of aging: • Increased morbidity due to sleep depriva- tion, chronic health conditions, increased use of medication • Functional inability to undertake previous job tasks. Older workers are likely to experience vision, hearing, muscle-strength, mobility, motor- performance, fine-motor-skill, perceptual- ability, and response-time changes. With aging comes sleep changes and cognitive declines. Risk management: Employer role Risk management involves making and im - plementing decisions to minimize adverse effects of accidental and business losses. It is the systematic application of planning, orga- nizing, leading, and controlling functions to: • Anticipate and identify accidental loss ex- posures • Evaluate the related risk • Work to avoid or eliminate hazards • Attain an acceptable level of risk. Risk is a state in which losses are possible. In disability management, the risks to employ- ers include high employee-absence rates, le- gal obligations, financial losses, and thwarted societal expectations. e legislation impact- ing and influencing disability management are human rights legislation, workers' com- pensation acts, privacy legislation, occupa- tional health and safety (OH&S) legislation, employment standards, and labour law. Permanent disability puts employees at risk for withdrawal from the workforce and pre - mature death (Scott-Marshall, 2015). is is a human capital loss. Financial risks stem from losses the employer faces when an employee is medically absent — lost productivity, busi - ness interruption costs, disability claim costs, supplementary healthcare costs, worker replacement costs, time lost in rearranging work schedules, and increased insurance premium rates. Each year, full-time Canadian employees miss, on average, 7.8 workdays due to medical reasons and 1.7 days due to fam - ily reasons. Canadian employers face the risk of lost productivity for 9.5 days per employee costing $2,117.36 per employee. Societal expectations emanate from Cana - da's strong "social conscience." Employers are expected to "do the right thing" for employ- ees; if perceived to fail, their corporate image and reputation suffers. Risk management is the responsibility of organizational leaders. ey decide their "risk appetite," preferred system for risk control, and how to enact stakeholder accountability. Risk management: Occupational Occupational health nurse role Occupational health nurses (OHNs) are in- volved in risk management situations and daily provide risk communications. Occu- pational health (OH) programs and disability management programs (DMPs) are risk man- agement tools: they are human resource "risk management approaches" aimed at promot- ing employee well-being, preventing illness and injury, and mitigating medical absences and costs. ey preserve human capital. OH nursing is risk management opera - tionalized. Synonymous with every aspect of an Occupational Health and Safety Man- agement System, OH nursing minimizes the costs of risk. It is an administrative, manage- 4 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2017 CASE IN POINT: HEALTH AND SAFETY ``MANY EMPLOYEES are hard-pressed to swear that they have never been at work and impaired." No doubt, this statement will raise eyebrows, but think about it: Impairment is experiencing a diminished, reduced, or damaged state of being. It stems from a disease state, injury, or substance-related condition. Yet, there are more sources. This article explores the term impairment, identifies its relevance in workplaces, and how employers having Occupational Health Nurses can mitigate the negative impacts, reduce legal and safety risks to the employer, and facilitate accommodation measures. BACKGROUND

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