(a) Adoption: There is hereby adopted and established an Occupational Injury Management Program. Said program shall comply with the provisions of the Return-To-Work Program of any Worker's Compensation provider in its present or any amended form, or any like program replacing the same or a future program with similar goals.
(b) Policy. The City of Moundsville is committed to providing a safe and healthy workplace for our employees. Preventing injuries and illnesses is our primary objective. We recognize our responsibility to our employees who suffer work-related injury or illness. In order to meet our responsibilities to our employees, the City of Moundsville establishes this Return-To-Work (RTW) program. The City of Moundsville desires to return an injured employee to modified or alternative work as soon as possible after a work-related injury or illness. When necessary, this will be done by temporarily modifying the employee's job or providing the employee with an alternative position. The employee's medical condition, along with any limitations or restrictions given by the attending physician, will be considered as priorities when identifying the modified/alternative position.
(c) Purpose. The program is intended to provide City of Moundsville employees with an opportunity to continue as valuable members of our work force while recovering from a work-related injury or illness. We also want to minimize any adverse effects of an off-the-job injury or illness to any of our employees and return the employee to his/her original job. This program is intended to benefit an injured employee by promoting a speedy recovery while keeping their work patterns and income consistent. The City of Moundsville shares in the benefits by having our employees retain their work skills, thus contributing to our overall productivity.
(d) Goals. If an employee is injured, the City of Moundsville will endeavor to return the injured employee to modified or alternative work as soon after the injury as possible. This will be done by temporarily modifying the employee's job or providing the employee with an alternative position. The employee's medical condition along with any limitations or restrictions given by the attending physician will be considered as a priority when identifying the modified/alternative position.
(e) Scope. This program applies to all employees of the City of Moundsville. All employees are required to comply with the program.
(f) Authority. The City Manager is hereby authorized to take all necessary actions to implement and effectively supervise the program, including but not limited to, providing for or creating alternative productive work for injured employees as envisioned by the program. The City Manager shall comply with the rules of the Return-To-Work Program required by the Worker's Compensation provider. The City Manager may appoint and assign personnel to accomplish the policies of the program. The City Manager is authorized to promulgate and set forth the specific procedures and policies of the program and shall make available to employees, physicians, and other interested parties documents setting forth the specific policies and procedures, which may be amended from time to time as necessary. The City Manager shall provide approved forms, notices, letters, and other documents to implement the program.
(g) Administration: Forms. The document entitled "City of Moundsville Return-To-Work Program dated October 11, 2007" contains the complete program description, details with respect to the administration of the program, and forms to be used. This document and the accompanying forms may be amended from time to time by the City Manager without approval of City Council. Any employee is entitled to receive a copy thereof, or any future amendment or amended version thereof upon request. (Passed 12-20-07)