Returning to Work Following a Prolonged Medical Absence (Professional Services)
Even the most seasoned educational worker can find it daunting to return to work after a prolonged medical leave. Depending on the length of your absence, you could face some significant challenges, including an unfamiliar curriculum, a new school, different colleagues, and/or a new teaching assignment. These circumstances, coupled possibly with a disability, can result in even the most experienced teacher feeling less than self-confident coming back to work.
Certainly it would be best if you could just walk in and pick up where you left off. For some members returning to work is relatively easy, and they may have few issues to deal with. For others the process is more complicated. In some cases, the school board may exercise its right to request medical documentation confirming that you are fit to return. The board may even request that you see their doctor before allowing you to come back, causing a delay in your return.
If you need accommodations
If you return to work with limitations and restrictions as a result of a medical condition, you may require accommodations. These could mean (but are not limited to) a gradual return to work, a temporary reassignment, a part-time schedule, restricted duties, or a combination of any of the above. To be accommodated you must provide medical documentation outlining your limitations and restrictions. This documentation must focus on your abilities, not dictate what position you should return to. It is up to the school board, in consultation with you and your ETFO local, to find a position that best satisfies the medical precautions. To ensure a smooth process, you should work closely with your local union and/or provincial office, and ensure sufficient time to find a suitable position. Remember that you are hired first and foremost as a teacher and that means being in the classroom with students. Returning to the classroom (preferably to the same assignment you held prior to the medical leave) will always be the first option investigated. If that is unsuccessful or if you are unable to do your former job, other options can be explored. The collective agreement sets out protocols and requirements for applying for and filling vacant positions. A medical accommodation is not your chance to jump the queue; rather it is the employer’s legal obligation to find the assignment that best accommodates your disability and/or limitations.
Members with good professional relationships with their administrator may feel it is possible to personally negotiate a return-to-work plan or medical accommodation. This is not the way to proceed. While it is important to foster positive working relationships with others, you should involve the local in the process. Sometimes the process does not go well and you may have to file a grievance. With their experience in these issues, your union representatives can usually facilitate a better, faster outcome.
Understanding your colleague’s situation
Do not confuse your colleague’s need for a medical accommodation with a teaching assignment preference. It is only human nature to want to find that “perfect, stress-free” assignment such as working one on one with individual students, working with small groups of students, and the ever popular but nonexistent special assignment at the board office. Sometimes it may look as if your colleague is getting a plum assignment and has received special treatment. Remember that the request for a bona fide medical accommodation requires medical support.
Life has a way of just carrying on when a colleague is off on a medical leave. To help relieve your colleague’s possible anxieties about returning to work, it is helpful to keep her or him involved in the day-to-day life of the school, if possible, by continuing to communicate. Sending local publications, school newsletters, announcements, notification of upcoming events, or emails, and/or making periodic phone calls will go a long way to making your colleague feel more comfortable and ready to take on the everyday challenges of being back in the classroom.
For further information about medical accommodations, go to etfo.ca and click on Professional Relations/PRS Matters; or call 416-962-3836 or 1-888-838-3836 and ask to speak to the PRS counsellor on duty.
PROFESSIONAL RELATIONS SERVICES staff provide confidential advice and support to assistmembers. PRS staff deal with a wide variety of issues including the performance appraisalprocess, work-related conflict, College of Teachers investigations, human rights issues including harassment and discrimination, professional boundaries, and allegations. Call 1-888-838-3836 or 416-962-3836 Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and ask to speak to the PRSofficer on call.