Workplace Injury or Sick from Work. What do I do?

Please note: all communications regarding workplace injuries and workplace absences for medical reasons must be directed to your personal Lakehead University provided email. Unfortunately, we are unable to include other third party email addresses at this time. Employees may use the filter/forward capability to forward pertinent emails to their personal accounts.

Workplace Injury

When an employee has had a workplace injury incident reports are mandatory:

Injury without Medical Aid

Take any corrective actions to avoid another accident

Have employee/witnesses complete accident report within one business day. The form is found here.

Injury with Medical Aid

Take any corrective actions to avoid another accident

Have employee/witnesses and supervisor complete accident report before the end of the day of the injury. The form is found here.

If the employee is not available to file the accident report form, the supervisor must complete the form linked above.

Forward any documentation provided by the employee to the Manager, Health, Safety and Wellness

Employee misses work due to a workplace Injury

If an employee who has not yet received medical attention for a workplace injury misses work due to the injury, the employee must seek medical attention.

Take any corrective actions to avoid another injury.

Have the employee complete an accident report form within one business day. The form is found here.

If the employee is not available to file the accident report form, the supervisor must promptly notify the Manager, Health, Safety and Wellness. The form is found here.

Record workplace absence due to workplace injury as WI on attendance sheets

Supervisors: If an employee is unable to complete an incident report on the day of injury or has indicated that they are away from work due to a workplace incident, you must report this to Human Resources immediately. Please use the form found here: Link to Form.

Illness

When an employee is absent due to illness:

When your employee is not able to attend work due to illness, supervisors must take the following steps:

Be supportive while your employee recovers

Their recovery is the top priority

While on sick leave or Long Term Disability, employees must not perform work for the University

Illness is 1-5 days (Short Term Leave)

□ Confirm employee’s available sick time

if employee has sufficient sick days, track their time on monthly attendance. Record this as: "S"
if employee does not have sick time available, submit a Leave of Absence for unpaid sick leave. Forms are submitted using Laserfiche: Laserfiche LOA. Record this absence on attendance sheets as: "SINP" (unpaid sick leave).

□ Doctor’s notes are required if the absence is greater than 5 days. Notes should be sent directly to the Manager, Health, Safety and Wellness

Illness is 6 days to 3 weeks and 6 days (Short Term Leave)

□ Confirm employee’s available sick time

if employee has sufficient sick days, track their time on monthly attendance and submit a LOA (paid illness leave) Leave of Absence Form. Forms are submitted using Laserfiche: Laserfiche LOA. Record this absence on attendance sheets as "S".
if employee does not have sick time available, submit a Laserfiche LOA for unpaid leave. Record this absence on attendance sheets as: "SINP" (unpaid sick leave).

□ Doctor’s notes are required if the absence is greater than 5 days. Notes can be uploaded with the Leave of Absence Form process or should be sent directly to the Manager, Health, Safety and Wellness.

□ A Job Demands Analysis and Functional Abilities and Absence Form may be required for employees who are off due to a physical illness and have a physically demanding job. Contact the Manager, Health, Safety and Wellness.

□ The Manager, Health, Safety and Wellness will confirm with the employee their dates of illness, return to work requirements and important dates

Illness is 4 – 16 weeks (Short Term Leave)

□ Confirm employee’s available sick time

- if employee has sufficient sick days, track their time on monthly attendance and submit a LOA (paid illness leave) Leave of Absence Form. Forms are submitted using Laserfiche: Laserfiche LOA. Record this absence on attendance sheets as "S".
- if employee does not have sick time available, submit a Laserfiche LOA for unpaid leave. Record this absence on attendance sheets as: "SINP" (unpaid sick leave). Employee may be eligible for Employment Insurance, visit Record of Employment (ROE) Information Sheet.pdf for more information on requesting a record of employment from Payroll Services.

□ Doctor’s notes are required if the absence is longer than 5 days. Notes can be uploaded with the Leave of Absence Form process or should be sent directly to the Manager, Health, Safety and Wellness.

□ The Manager Health Safety and Wellness will confirm the employee's available sick time.

□ Once a leave reaches Four (4) weeks of absence, a Functional Abilities and Absence Form (FAAF) will be sent to employees. The FAAF is required to understand the employee's current medical limitations and aids in the process of offering accommodated work or gradual return to work. A Job Demands Analysis is also required. The return to work process follows the medical accommodations procedure and forms are available here.

□ The supervisor should consider whether the leave requires employee to return keys or other university property (such as laptops), and if any department specific benefits/stipends should be suspended while the employee is on sick leave.

□ The employee's personal belongings should be treated with the utmost care. Should it become necessary to package personal belongings for safe keeping, please ensure that this is witnessed and documented. A copy of this form must be included with the belongings.

Illness is 17 weeks – 24 months (Long Term Leave)

□ Follow the procedure for 4-16 weeks

□ Some staff may be eligible for Long-term disability (LTD) benefits at 17 weeks. If eligible, employee must transition to LTD at 17 weeks. For more information on Long Term Disability benefits, please review here: Disability | Lakehead University

□ LTD will be managed by the Manager, Health, Safety and Wellness

□ If not completed prior to 17 weeks, a Job Demands Analysis is required and can be completed by the Supervisor if the employee is unavailable

□ The Manager, Health, Safety and Wellness will confirm with the employee their dates of illness, return to work requirements and important dates.

□ Supervisor must request employee to return keys or other university property, and cease any department specific benefits/stipends while the employee is on sick leave.

□ The employee's personal belongings should be treated with the utmost care. The employee's personal belongings are to be collected for safe keeping. Please ensure that this is witnessed and documented. A copy of this form must be included with the belongings.

Sick/Injury FAQ

Do workplace accidents always have to be reported?

Yes, it is important to report all workplace accidents, including those that did not result in an injury. This is vital knowledge for the Health and Safety team to ensure that hazards are addressed before an injury does result.

Do we have to use the new online form to report all accidents?

Yes, the new form ensures that all personnel who may need to know about the accident to address the hazard are promptly notified. The accident report records information in a standard format to ensure that critical information is not omitted.

My employee was on a paid sick leave, but their sick leave has been extended, what do I do?

A new leave of absence form is required to document the extended leave.

Please ensure that your employee has sufficient sick time to cover the extended absence. If sick time has been exhausted, a separate leave of absence for the unpaid sick leave is required. Please ensure to record this on the leave of absence form as sick leave with zero (0) sick days available. This is NOT a leave without pay.

If your employee has provided medical documentation to you, this will need to be uploaded to laserfiche following submission of the Leave of Absence. After the Leave of Absence has been submitted, a separate task "Medical Documentation Submission" will be assigned to the supervisor and employee. This will allow either to upload medical documentation if available. This process has been designed as a separate task to ensure confidentiality, limiting access to those who are directly overseeing the sick leave management.

When do I need a doctor's note and when do I need to have my doctor complete a Functional Abilities and Absence Form?

Medical notes are sufficient to support an absence of any duration.

Functional Abilities and Absence Forms are required when:

Duration of leave is longer than 2 weeks, and the employee's position is physically demanding,
Duration of leave is longer than 4 weeks (all employees), or
Medical accommodations will be required to transition the employee back to work, or will be required for a longer duration upon return to work.