When an employee is injured and unable to work, it can put the employer in a tough position. On the one hand, the employer needs to continue operating after losing a contributor to the business, while on the other hand, it has legal obligations to which it must live up – such as the duty to accommodate or holding the position for the employee when they’re able to return to work.
“Most of the employers that we see are good people operating good businesses, and so they also feel a moral obligation to injured employees,” says Warren WhiteKnight, a partner at Bergeron Clifford in Kingston, Ont. “There’s a tension between the need to keep operating the business after losing a valued person, while pushing them along in a respectful way to get back to work if and when they’re able.”
Where the employee gets hurt plays a big role in how the employer can manage the situation. If the injury occurs at work while the employee is performing their job duties, then it falls under the jurisdiction of the provincial workers’ compensation scheme – such as the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) in Ontario, for example.
