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Subsidiary of a Fortune 500 international oil company that manufactures consumer
automotive supplies and parts. Its 1,800 employees are located in virtually every
state of the U.S.
Prior to Work & Well, the parent company had entered into an extensive BPO agreement
with a large national human resources (HR) outsourcing corporation. However, that corporation did not
offer leave management. Work & Well currently provides the subsidiary with integrated leave management
for all medical leaves.
Claiming an allergic reaction to chemicals, an employee filed a claim for
short-term disability benefits.
While reviewing the medical documentation, Work & Well’s case manager discovered the
employee and her physician were attributing the allergic reaction to exposure to chemicals
in the workplace, although the employee had not filed a workers’ comp claim.
We discussed the case with the company’s human resources (HR) contact, who assured our
case manager the claimant was a “very good employee” who was “very ill” and could not return to
work. Our case manager was able to convince HR to approve an independent medical examination
(IME) for another opinion on the employee’s health status, assessment of her work capability
and whether the case was work-related.
The IME refuted the employee’s claim of inhalation exposure to workplace chemicals and any
disability. Originally written out of work for the entire six months of short-term disability,
the employee returned to work full-duty within a week of the IME.
The employer saved the cost of approximately 16 weeks of
disability benefit payments. The employer’s potential liability
was dramatically lessened with the refutation of the work-related claim.
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