Personnel and Employee Relations AP 448: Fitness for Duty Guidelines

Background

Fort McMurray Public School Division is committed to providing a safe work environment, and to protect the health and safety of students, staff, contractors/sub-contractors, volunteers, and visitors.

Purpose: This Administrative Procedure provides a procedure for identifying and intervening when staff could pose a threat to the safety of themselves, others, and/or property.

Definitions

“Fit for Duty”: means a state of physical and mental that allows an individual to perform the duties of the job:

• without creating a risk to themselves, others, and/or property;
• safely and effectively without impairment due to the use of or after-effects of alcohol, illegal/legal drugs, legal medications or other health conditions.

“Health Service Provider” is a doctor of medicine or other health care practitioner.

“Supervisor” is normally the person to whom a staff member reports or the person who is in charge of the worksite.

Employee Responsibilities:

1. Reporting to work fit for duty.
2. Take reasonable care to protect the health and safety of themselves and others at all times while on duty.
3. Notifying the supervisor when not fit for duty.
4. Notifying the supervisor when observing a co-worker who may not be fit for duty (in cases where the possibly impaired individual is the employees supervisor, the employee should make the notification to the next higher level manager or Human Relations staff).
5. Cooperating with a supervisors directive and/or referral for a medical evaluation.
6. Cooperating with the employer on a modified work program
7. Ensuring the employee’s medical practitioner is provided a copy of Form 448-1 Fitness for Work and has informed medical practitioner of the employer's modified duties program.
8. Keeping the Supervisor and/or Human Resources informed of any changes in prognosis or directions from their medical practitioner and regularly checking their Division email for communication from the Division.

Supervisor Responsibilities:

1. Utilizing this Administrative Procedure in a fair and consistent manner, respecting the employee’s privacy and the confidentiality of medical information.
2. Observing the attendance, performance and behavior of staff they supervise.
3. Interviewing an employee who appears to the supervisor unfit for duty and referring an employee to Human Resources for a medical evaluation when appropriate.
4. Recording the reasons and observations that triggered a fitness for duty assessment.
5. Working with Human Resources and the employee on a modified work program.

Procedures:

1. The supervisor who receives reliable information that an employee may be unfit for duty, or through personal observation believes an employee to be unfit for duty, will validate and document the information or observations as soon as is practical.
   Examples of actions that may trigger the need to evaluate an employee’s fitness for duty:
   
   Attendance
   Frequent absence, frequent tardiness, or frequent need to be excused during work
   
   Performance        
   Declining quality of work, failure to meet reasonable deadlines
   
   Attitude
   Mood swings (from day to day or during the day), defensive or argumentative behavior, coworkers and/or students are uncomfortable in their presence
   
   Behaviour
   Disruptive, inattentive, withdrawn, difficulty following normal routine, uncooperative, easily upset, frequent memory lapses, unreasonably or regularly critical of others, use of obscene language, change in relationships with co-workers/students, when faced with observation of unacceptable behavior or performance denies anything is wrong, avoids contact with superiors and/or co-workers promises to do better but no change occurs,
   
   Physical
   Dazed or giddy, lethargy, downward change in personal appearance, glassy/bloodshot eyes,poor coordination, or asleep on the job
2. The supervisor will present the information or observations to the employee at the earliest possible time in order to validate them, and will allow the employee to respond to the concern. The supervisor will then determine whether the employee should leave the workplace immediately for safety reasons.
3. The supervisor may direct the employee to a health service provider to assess the condition of the employee. An employee may not be allowed to return to work until such an assessment has been provided or until the supervisor has been satisfied that the employee is fit to return to work.
4. The employer shall be responsible for the cost of any medical evaluations completed by a health service provider, if required by the employer.
5. Prior to returning to work the employee may be required to supply a Fitness to Work form (form 448-1) as prescribed by the health care provider and a Modified Work Agreement (form 411-1) reviewed and agreed to by the employee, supervisor and Human Resources.