Workplace Injury or Accident

Southwest Care Center (SCC) strives to make the workplace a safe and healthful environment for all including staff, patients, vendors, and visitors. The key to a safe work environment is prevention with the responsibility shared by all. SCC promotes timely reporting of work-related safety and health concerns and a swift response to remedy.

​

Team members must perform their jobs in a safe manner, with concern and care for their safety and that of others. Team members who perform their jobs in an unsafe manner, who engage behaviors or activities that endanger the health or safety of themselves or others, will be subject to disciplinary action up to and including termination.

All team members are expected to report any safety or health risk immediately upon recognition of issue to a supervisor. The supervisor receiving the report is the responsible party for ensuring that the incident is remedied when possible and/or the appropriate party who can remedy is immediately notified. 

Pursuant to the State of New Mexico’s Workers’ Compensation Act, § 52-1-1 et seq. NMSA 1978, Southwest Care Center provides coverage and certain forms of compensation to team members who incur an injury or illness arising out of and in the course of their employment. The State of New Mexico’s Workers' Compensation Administration administers these compensation payments and covers any person receiving a salary or wage from the organization.

This policy sets forth the Southwest Care Centers (SCC) commitment to prevention of on-the-job accidents; treatment, care, and rehabilitation of an injured team member; and the team member's rights and responsibilities when an on-the-job injury or illness occurs.

Reporting of unsafe workplace conditions: 
The key to prevention of workplace injury and illness is the responsibility of all SCC team members. It is expected that where an issue or area of concern is identified that the identifying team member take immediate action to remedy if say to do so and further make immediate report to the supervisor in charge. 
All SCC team members are required to submit an incident report immediately following reporting to supervisor and provide all details including those steps taken to remedy. Additionally, the organization conducts its annual safety inspection and reviews the SCC Safety Plan to ensure compliance and identification of areas of concern or improvement.

If you experience a work-related injury or illness:
Report the injury or illness: All work-related accidents and/or illnesses must be reported to their immediate supervisor or supervisor on duty immediately. Additionally, each injury or illness must be reported to a member of the Human Resources Team with a follow-up report to be submitted via the link found on the SCC Sharepoint Main Page. Look for the black and white banner top right of screen or click on the link to the right in the related information and associated forms section of this page.

Accident and Illness Report: All reporting including the official First Report of Injury must provide details of cause or injury/illness, impact to the team member including specific details related to injury/illness (i.e., right ankle, lower back, left thumb, etc.). Required submission time should be no more than 24hrs from time of incident. Reports should be made by the impacted party, but when not able, this report can be completed by the supervisor or a member of the HR department. This report will be used to generate the First Report of Injury that will be submitted to the Worker’s Compensation Carrier within 72 hours on the injured team members behalf.

Team member electing treatment: Team members electing treatment for their workplace injury or illness will be seen at their closest Concentra clinic. You will need to bring your ID and let them know that you need to be seen for a workplace injury/illness. The HR department will coordinate the visit, but you should not delay seeking treatment as the HR team can make contact with Concentra post visit to provide authorization if need be.

Do not clock out for the time that you are seeking outside treatment as this is considered paid time. Upon completion of your visit, please ensure you contact HR to provide outcome details and any restrictions that may have been placed on your ability to work. If you have restrictions or will be out of work due to a workplace injury, an HR will coordinate that with you and your supervisor to ensure that we are meeting the requirements of the provider’s noted restrictions.

If a team member works remote outside of the state, they should visit a Concentra in their area. If Concentra is not available in their immediate area, the team member may see a provider of their choice. The team member should let the provider know that this is a work-related injury/illness and provide that Southwest Care Center HR representative will contact them with filing information and workers compensation case details. 

If an injury or illness is life threatening in nature, team member should go to the nearest emergency medical facility. Witnessing team member should immediately assist with transportation or contact of 911 if applicable. Clinic staff should only provide medical support in the event of emergency situations to stabilize prior to transport to emergency provider.

Team member not electing treatment: Even if a team member chooses not to receive medical treatment, the team member must complete a First Report of Injury as described above in order to preserve the rights under Workers' Compensation. The team member should complete the form within 24 hours of incident, but no later than fifteen (15) days after the injury/illness occurs. Failure to meet the fifteen (15) day deadline could jeopardize coverage under the NM Workers' Compensation Act.

Missed Work and Leave: The team member or the team member’s supervisor should notify HR immediately if the team member is going to be out of work due to a work-related injury or illness. The team member is paid for the full day of work on the day of injury/illness without charging the absence to sick time off or Paid/Executive time off.

​

Family Medical Leave Act: The HR department will notify the team member that he or she may qualify to request unpaid leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and coordinate the processing of any FMLA documentation. If eligible, FMLA leave will run concurrently with Workers’ Compensation, provided the reason for the absence is due to a qualifying serious injury or illness and the supervisor has properly notified the team member, in writing, that the leave will be counted as FMLA leave. The amount of unpaid FMLA leave a team member would be eligible to take will be reduced by time off covered under Workers' Compensation. 
Americans With Disabilities Act: In certain cases, a work-related injury or illness may give rise to a disability covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42, USC 12101. In those instances, reasonable accommodations that allow the team member to perform the essential functions of that job shall be made. The team member's HR department should work with the team member's health care provider to develop these accommodations.

Wage and Compensation: Workers' Compensation payments do not begin until the team member has been unable to work for seven (7) calendar days following the date of incident. The team member's pay for the first seven (7) days is charged to sick /paid/executive time off or leave without pay (if the team member does not have sick or annual leave available).

Beginning with the eighth (8th) calendar day of disablement, Workers' Compensation will pay two-thirds (2/3) of the team member's gross weekly wage up to the maximum established by law. A team member may use any accrued time off to augment Workers' Compensation up to his or her base salary; however, the total of leave with pay and Workers' Compensation may not exceed one hundred percent (100%) of the team member's gross wages. If sick leave is exhausted, the team member may not borrow against future accruals other than sick leave accruals as they become available.

If the period of disablement extends past the twenty-eighth (28th) calendar day, Workers' Compensation will then pay the team member the amount if the disablement. If SCC paid the team member paid leave for the first seven (7) days of the disablement, SCC will deduct an amount equal to this Workers' Compensation payment for the first seven (7) days from the team member's next regular paycheck. SCC will return the equivalent paid time off to the team member's accounts.

HR will assist the team member with disability insurance application if applicable and based on plan terms will help determine eligibility for compensation under those insurance plans. 

Return to Work: In accordance with the NM Workers' Compensation Act, SCC administers a return-to-work program for all its team members. An injured or ill team member will be encouraged to return to work as soon as he or she is released by his or her health care provider. When an injury or illness covered by the Workers' Compensation Program involves any lost time, a medical release from treating provider is required before a team member may return to work. If a team member is only able to return to his or her existing job with restrictions on certain job activities, the return to work is encouraged but must be coordinated with the HR Department, the supervisor, and the returning team member to determine if such restrictions can be accommodated. 

If reasonable accommodations can be made to the essential functions of the job in order to allow an injured or ill team member to return to duty, such accommodations shall be made. These accommodations are known as "restricted duty." The HR Department will contact the treating medical provider if there are questions regarding restrictions.

If a temporary disability prevents a team member from performing essential job duties, the supervisor, in consultation with the health care provider, may temporarily reassign the team member to other duties that do not adversely affect the disability. The reassignment should not affect the team member's pay scale. The team member must provide a statement from the health care provider that the team member can perform the reassigned or limited job duties without adverse effect on the temporary disability or the safety of others.

If it is determined, after Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI), that an injured or ill team member is no longer able to perform the essential functions of the job at which the team member was injured or became ill, with or without accommodation, that team member shall then be placed on the layoff roster. Individuals on the layoff roster receive first priority for vacant positions at similar or lower classification. In addition, the individual's health care provider must certify that the individual is medically capable of performing the duties of a job offered as a result of layoff status. SCC is not required to create a job that does not currently exist or that is not vacant or budgeted.

Vacant positions resulting from work-related injuries or illnesses may be filled only by temporary reassignment of duties within current staffing pool or by temporarily hired team members. A position may be permanently filled if there is documented medical diagnosis or evidence that an employee with a job-related injury or illness has reached MMI or that the team member's impairment or condition is permanent, and that employee cannot perform the essential functions of the particular job. A position may be permanently filled if there is a critical need and that need cannot be satisfied with a temporary employee, and SCC has made a good faith effort to do so.

Southwest Care Center will not retaliate against any individual team member who reports a workplace safety concern or an individual who seeks workers’ compensation benefits as a result of a workplace injury or illness.
 

.