Making the Connection: How Risk Management and Employee Benefits Fit Together

By John Montone, Head, Workers’ Compensation and Disability Claims, The Hartford; Allison Scaia, Head, Health Services, The Hartford

While risk managers are keenly focused on workplace safety and workers’ compensation, it’s important for them to have a working knowledge of all benefits to ensure employees can access available benefits. Human resources (HR) professionals and risk managers should work together to support employees with job-related injuries and nonwork-related conditions. Here are some key areas on the benefits side with which risk managers should be familiar.

Coordination and Compliance

An employee out on workers’ compensation may be entitled to job-protected leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). However, a recent examination of employer claims showed that 71% of workers’ compensation claims with three or more days of approved absences were not coordinated with the employee’s eligible FMLA time. And failure to initiate FMLA leave for workers’ compensation claims due to incorrect tracking or not coordinating leave can be costly to employers and fail to protect workers.¹

Full content is available to DMEC members only.

to view the complete resource.

If you are not a DMEC member, we encourage you to join. DMEC members have access to white papers, case studies, @Work magazine articles, free webinars, legislative updates, and much more. These resources will assist you in building an effective and compliant integrated absence management program, saving you time, resources, and money. Learn more.

If you are being asked to log in more than once, please refresh your browser.