DMEC News: September-October 2026
DMEC introduces a new master class on costly accommodation and leave mistakes, new microcredential courses on military leave and Iowa leave laws, and applications for the 2027-2029 Employer Advisory Council.
Tag @work magazine article
Work Is Medicine
Work is more than a paycheck. For people coping with illness or injury, it also provides structure, social connection, identity, and daily purpose, key ingredients that matter enormously to recovery.
The Empathetic RTW Leader: Balancing Accommodation and Accountability
I once worked with an employee who was so fearful of losing their job that they wanted to return to work too early. Physically, they weren’t ready, and mentally, they were exhausted.
Are Return-to-Work Durations Changing Over Time?
Return-to-work (RTW) durations are a measure of how long employees need to recover from an illness, injury, or medical procedure before returning to their jobs. However, these durations reflect much more than recovery time alone.
The Smarter Return: Why Employers Are Rethinking Temporary Modified Light Duty
When an employee is injured on the job, the immediate focus naturally turns to medical care. But what happens in the days, weeks and sometimes months that follow may matter just as much as the treatment itself.
How to Support Neurodivergence: An Employer Perspective
There are many actions employers can take to support their neurodivergent employees. Gaining an understanding of both neurodiversity and neurodivergence is the first step toward learning how to support them.
The best return-to-work strategy may be preventing unnecessary leave in the first place
For years, return-to-work programs have focused on one central question: how do we help employees come back safely after an illness or injury? A growing body of evidence is pushing accommodation and leave management professionals to ask an earlier question: did the employee need to leave work completely in the first place?
Celebrating National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) Boosts Workplace Morale and Engagement
Most organizations that celebrate National Disability Employment Awareness Month do so for 31 days. The real question is whether employees with disabilities feel valued during the other 334.
The Bridge: Where Law Meets Humanity
The ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA) is often described as a compliance obligation. We often use it to check risk mitigation. However, at its core, the ADAAA is a bridge between limitation of and contributions from the employee as they return to the workforce or to productivity.
Work Can Be Part of Recovery
Together, these articles point toward a broader principle: successful return to work is rarely about finding the fastest route back to full duty. It is about creating the conditions for a safe, sustainable path forward.
