What is vocational assistance?

By Elaine Gumc, Vocational Coordinator

Vocational assistance can be an overwhelming thought for both the employer at injury as well as for the injured worker. The employer is seeing the loss of an employee, more claims costs, and a possible increase in the cost of its premiums. The worker is looking at the loss of a life career, the possibility of going to school beyond high school (maybe for the first time), and the uncertainty of finding a new career.

Although the percentage of workers' comp claims that qualify for vocational assistance is very small, as a vocational coordinator at SAIF, I know how truly rewarding it is to help an injured worker at the end of a claim move forward with her new future.

The Preferred Worker Program

One of the first things vocational coordinators at SAIF look at is how can we help the worker keep employment with the employer. The Preferred Worker Program offers benefits to the employer to help it make adjustments to offer the worker a new or modified job that is within the worker's new physical limitations. Preferred Worker Program benefits include premium exemption, wage subsidies, worksite creation money, and worksite modification money.

SAIF makes sure that the employer understands those benefits and helps to access them. Keeping the worker with the employer is the ultimate "win-win" opportunity for both of them. The employer gets to keep claims costs down and keep a trained, valuable employee; the worker gets to maintain her employment.

Other options

Unfortunately, returning to work with the employer at injury is not always an option because of business needs, limitations of the worker, and the wage requirements.

But a successful outcome is still possible. The vocational coordinator looks at the worker's education and transferable skills to determine if there are other jobs she could do to earn at least 80 percent of her wage at injury. If not, the worker would be entitled to 16 months of training to return to new employment that will pay as close as possible to the wage at the time of injury.

The vocational coordinator keeps the employer informed during this time period regarding cost and time frames for training. The vocational coordinator will approve the best training program for the worker that considers the shortest amount of training time needed, while keeping costs within the fee schedule according to the vocational rules.

Vocational assistance within the workers' comp system has very specific rules that the vocational coordinators at SAIF are experts on. Those rules are always followed to create the best result for all parties involved.