About the position

The Disability and Workers’ Compensation Lead role oversees the operations and administration of sickness absence and temporary disability case program by third party disability vendors. This role also leads workers’ compensation processes by providing advice, guidance and claims management support to clinicians and business lines. This position reports to the Country Occupational Health Manager.

Responsibilities

• Maintains technical competency to drive disability and workers’ compensation management processes that are fit for purpose, effective and aligned with company standards, and seeks improvement opportunities
• Demonstrates strong analytical skills and makes objective decisions on behalf of the company
• Provides clinical oversight to disability case management advisors (DCMAs)
• Provides supervisory support to direct reports, promotes collaboration, teamwork, and a positive work environment
• Supports staff in addressing complex cases and escalations, including effective collaboration with stakeholders (e.g., safety, HR, law, business line)
• Coaches staff, identifies development needs, and provides constructive feedback facilitating career growth and competency
• Maintains the disability program and partnerships with the third-party disability vendors
• Oversees contract terms scope of work, service level agreements and key performance indicators
• Ensures company principles are followed as they pertain to fitness for work by third party vendors and DCMAs
• Approves any disability management protocols recommended/suggested by and to the third-party vendor or DCMAs
• Supports program continuous improvement
• Maintains custodianship of the system of applications and vendor interfaces
• Maintains temporary disability benefits (TDB) reference guide that outlines how the TDB program is administered
• Collaborates with company and third-party stakeholders to ensure processes are followed and issues are identified and resolved
• Manages escalations from the business line for systemic issues and breaks in service, recommending solutions
• Utilizes advanced nursing assessment, clinical reasoning, and case management expertise to optimize fitness for work determination and return-to-work planning for lost time cases where disability benefits are not supported
• Demonstrates advanced clinical judgment in interpreting medical information and coordinating evidence-based disability case management to support successful return-to-work outcomes, with third party vendor
• Directs the delivery of absence notification processes by third party disability vendor, including template standards and call centre performance (e.g., customer experience and timekeeping errors)
• Coordinates updates to letter templates, intake call scripts and case management scripts with third party vendor
• Provides support to Timekeeping to resolve pay impacting case management issues (e.g., missing or incorrect absences close to payroll cutoff for timekeeping)
• Collaborates on process design for TDB no-pay and other complex cases, through interface with company Disability Review Committee, and supports HR Employee Services and Site Accommodations Committee
• Leads ad-hoc projects to implement various process and systems changes. Coordinates stakeholder discussions and change implementation.
• Supports Intermittent Absence (IA) program reporting, including oversight of DCMA and third party disability provider activities
• Conducts periodic reviews of third party disability vendor’s employee-facing documentation
• Supports supervisor communications/training input related to the TDB program
• Holds the third-party disability vendor accountable for performance stewardship, providing strategic direction and feedback, and communicating performance results and insights to Business Unit Leadership Teams and the Management Committee.
• Supports team members with workers’ compensation claim reporting requirements, including submission of employer’s reports
• Responds to inquiries from provincial and territorial workers’ compensation boards (WCB) regarding injury and illness claims for active and former employees, including providing payroll details, shift schedules, work/exposure history, and other relevant claim-related information
• Monitors WCB communication/portals for notifications of new claims, outstanding payments, and other issues requiring action
• Serves as the account administrator for provincial and territorial workers’ compensation boards, including creating new user accounts, granting account access, and maintaining accounts
• Collaborates with Payroll team to ensure there are no outstanding WCB premium payments across provincial/territorial juristictions, and to ensure good standing with boards
• Prepares and submits Intent to Object when the company disagrees with a WCB claim decision regarding work-relatedness or attribution to the employer
• Identifies accepted claims for appeal consideration and collaborates with country occupational health manager to determine next steps. Provides support for appeals cases as needed.
• Provides WCB clearance letter to demonstrate company has current WCB coverage, upon request
• Reviews contracts for WCB related clauses to ensure wording reflects the local WCB requirements, upon request
• Collaborates with occupational health technicians to ensure WCB claim documentation is maintained in company database
• Participates in WCB audits initiated by provincial/territorial boards (with Payroll, HR)
• Participates in external trade association/task force (e.g., Industry Task Force in Alberta)
• Prepares summary of quarterly new claims reports for communication with key stakeholders
• Collaborates with HR disability team and third party disability vendor for administration of benefits
• Provides advice on WCB regulations and policies, including changes

Requirements

• Nursing Degree, Nurse Practitioner Degree, or post-secondary education in health-related discipline
• Current, or eligible for, unrestricted registration with provincial or territorial nursing licensing organization for primary work location
• In good standing with the provincial licensing organization of the primary work location, and others as required.
• Minimum 5-10 years of disability and workers’ compensation program management
• Demonstrated leadership skills
• Strong Microsoft Excel and presentation skills
• Strong influencing without authority, analytical, consulting, mentoring, and computer skills
• Strong collaboration and communication skills; ability to clearly and concisely convey insights and strategic recommendations to management/leadership

Nice-to-haves

• Familiarity with electronic medical record usage is an asset
• Diploma or certification in disability management – or eligible to register
• Certification in occupational health (COHN(C)) is preferred
• Experience using analytical tools such as Power BI, Tableau
• Ability to multitask and provide timely response to business requests

Benefits

• Competitive salary
• Training and mentorship
• Relocation assistance as required
• Flexible work hours and work from home policy
• Employee resource groups (ERG’s) – opportunity to participate in volunteer groups that support furthering the company’s inclusion objectives