Summer 07
Vol. 12 No. 3

Story and photo by Dave Schafer

An elbow injury couldn’t keep Donald Prejean on the couch collecting a paycheck.

Prejean, who works in Building Services’ design and construction division, injured his elbow and forearm while unloading a van at a job site; the empty five-gallon can of paint he tried to nonchalantly stretch and pick up wasn’t empty, after all.

The doctor limited him to lifting 10 pounds until his arm recovers.

“I can’t stand just sitting around,” Prejean said. “It’s boring. I need to be working,”

Through the city’s transitional duty program, Prejean kept busy. Each weekday, he did filing in the personnel records room at 611 Walker. And he’s collecting more money than he would sitting on his couch.

While off work because of an injury, eligible municipal employees collect 86.5 percent of their regular pay. Employees working transitional duty collect 95 percent.

Each week of work that an injured employee misses increases the likelihood that the employee will never return to his previous job, said Paul Garcia, Human Resources safety and workers’ compensation division manager. The workers comp division administers the transitional duty program.

Texas is one of the worst states in retaining employees after injures. Garcia is trying to improve retention by changing the workers’ comp culture.

Getting injured employees back to work with light transitional duty is one way to change that culture.

The division is also looking for a network of certified medical professionals to provide the best service, and it is focusing on better customer service to help injured employees navigate the workers’ comp system.

“The city is showing employees they have value and are appreciated as they transition from injured to healthy,” said Ramiro Cano, HR assistant director.

Compensating for changes
The state Legislature has changed workers’ compensation laws, including passing House Bill 7 in 2005, which abolished the Texas Workers’ Compensation Commission and put workers’ comp under the Texas Department of Insurance. The TDI is better equipped to handle medical issues and works aggressively at getting employees back to work, Garcia said.

Since joining the city in October 2005, Garcia has focused on the injured worker rather than the money due the worker.

Many people think negatively about workers’ comp, Garcia said. There’s a stigma attached to accepting it, and many bosses think it’s a system that allows employees to get paid for slacking off.

Garcia wants people to think of it as a positive benefit due to workers who are injured while working hard.

He wants supervisors, directors and co-workers to reach out to injured employees.

“We’ll monitor the medical aspect,” he said. “What I want the departments to do is call them up and see how they’re doing, see if they need anything.”

Working through rehab
Transitional duty has been called a “job prescription” because it can be used as therapy.

After up to 40 days off work, employees sometimes need time to work their way back into their regular duty, Garcia said. Transitional work can keep the employee’s mind and body used to work.

There are a variety of transitional duty jobs in each department. They include filing, copying, or cooking and cleaning in a fire station. The key is that the job doesn’t stress the injury.

The employee and the doctor have to agree on transitional work duty, Cano said.

If no transitional duties are available in the employee’s department, that department will pay the employee’s salary while she works in another department.

Many injured workers file in HR’s understaffed records room.

“They’ve been an enormous help,” said Janice Melton, records division supervisor. “It’s relieved a lot of pressure from the rest of the staff.

“I swear by them.”

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