Workers Compensation Case Study - Joe's Knee Injury at Work

Job Responsibilities and Injury Details

Joe is a 41-year-old male employee of ABC Painting, a non-unionized commercial painting company. He is a full-time employee and works Monday to Friday for 8 hours a day, with occasional overtime depending on project completion timelines. He has been employed with the company for 10 years. Painters work in a team of two: one senior and one junior employee; Joe is the senior employee in his team.
The team is responsible for the set up, preparation, and painting of a variety of surfaces in commercial buildings. They use step stools (2–3 steps), ladders, scaffolding, and man-lifts in their job. They carry large 10-gallon paint pails, as well as brushes, trays, rollers, extension handles, tape, tarps or drop cloths, and Stanley knives. They wear disposable painters’ suits and have disposable N-95 masks if needed. CSA footwear is also required. There is frequent walking and climbing, as well as sustained periods of standing, kneeling, and crouching. Their work requires full functional range of both upper and lower extremities, as the work varies from below knee to overhead.
On a Wednesday, Joe sustained an injury to his right knee at work when he missed his footing while descending a flight of stairs. He was carrying a large folded tarp and thought he was at the bottom of the stair case, but he still had two more stairs to go. He twisted the right knee as he landed and sustained a meniscal injury. He had no previous history of any problems with his knee.
Joe went to the local emergency room and was discharged with a note for 14 days off work. After 14 days, Joe’s doctor would not clear him to return to work due to Joe’s ongoing pain and swelling in his knee. Joe reported difficulties with mobilizing and poor activity tolerance despite being in community physio. He continued in community physio until referred to an Occupational Rehabilitation program Level 1 (OR1).
Joe’s claim was auto-adjudicated, as the employer has not responded to the request by the workers’ compensation board (WCB) for information. Joe was referred to an OR1 and is at week 4 of his 6 weeks with them. He has ongoing pain issues and is reluctant to push his knee, as he fears he will aggravate the injury. You have very little information about the incident, as Joe’s supervisor did not perform an incident investigation because there was a clear mechanism of injury.
The Workers Compensation Board (WCB) has contacted you about returning Joe to work with a gradual return of 4 weeks. Joe has contacted you after his most recent doctor’s visit. His doctor disagrees with a gradual return to work (GRTW) at this time. Joe shared with you that he still has pain and swelling in the knee and is fearful of returning to work and re-injuring it; his fear of re-injury is interrupting his sleep at night.
In your report, please address the following:
Part 1: worth 55%
1.What information and/or documentation is missing in this scenario?
2.Who do you need to communicate with regarding this worker’s situation, and what would you be asking for?
3.What is the next step in this worker’s rehabilitation? Fully explain your plan and reasoning for the plan chosen.
Part 2: worth 35%
1.Develop the Gradual Return To Work (GRTW) plan, including a progression of hours, days, and duties through to a full-time and full-duty return to work. Draft this in table format.
2.What actions are needed before, during, and after the GRTW?