Margaret Spence, CWC, RMPE
Margaret Spence is a Board Certified Workers' Compensation consultant, speaker and trainer who ranks among the experts in the field of Injury Management and Return to Work Implementation.
She is also the President/CEO of Douglas Claims & Risk Consultants, Inc and WorkCompSeminars.com. For more than two decades, she has managed safety and workers' compensation issues for Fortune 500 Corporations, Public Entities and small businesses. She is an expert at showing companies how to slash their workers' compensation cost by implementing strategies that drastically reduce injury rates, increase productivity and energize employees to work safely.
Margaret is the author of - From Workers' Comp Claimant to Valued Employee - Employer's Guide to Implementing a Proactive Return to Work Program. Margaret was recently selected by the Society for Human Resource Management to join the Special Expertise Panel on Employee Health, Safety and Security.
She is also the President/CEO of Douglas Claims & Risk Consultants, Inc and WorkCompSeminars.com. For more than two decades, she has managed safety and workers' compensation issues for Fortune 500 Corporations, Public Entities and small businesses. She is an expert at showing companies how to slash their workers' compensation cost by implementing strategies that drastically reduce injury rates, increase productivity and energize employees to work safely.
Margaret is the author of - From Workers' Comp Claimant to Valued Employee - Employer's Guide to Implementing a Proactive Return to Work Program. Margaret was recently selected by the Society for Human Resource Management to join the Special Expertise Panel on Employee Health, Safety and Security.
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Articles by Margaret Spence, CWC, RMPE
October 05, 2009
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced a record-setting consent decree resolving a class lawsuit against Sears, Roebuck and Co. (Sears) under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) for $6.2 million. The consent decree, approved by Federal District Judge Wayne Andersen, represents the largest ADA settlement in a single lawsuit in EEOC history. The EEOC's suit alleged that Sears maintained an inflexible workers' compensation leave exhaustion policy and terminated employees instead of providing them with reasonable accommodations for their disabilities, in violation of the ADA. Workers compensation is the gateway to ADA accommodation. Employers incorrectly assume that the workers compensation system will protect them from ADA litigation – surprise, surprise, it will not! In fact, the workers compensation system does little to explain the exposure and they will not provide employers with a defense for inadequate ADA policies – the two systems are independent and co-dependent on each other.
May 19, 2009
In today´s tough economy, it may be difficult to sell your company on the benefits of continuing to offer injured employees viable light duty jobs especially if you are considering a layoff. So, Are Return to Work Programs Still Viable? The answer is easy – in tough economic times businesses can not afford to overlook return to work programs because indemnity or lost wage payments are one of the key drivers of workers compensation cost.
Workers Compensation - Physician Your Return to Work Decision is Not Clear, Are We On the Same Team?
May 19, 2009
Workers Compensation is a team sport – everyone has to work for the same goal on the same team – unfortunately medical treatment often creates a disconnect between the goal of the employer – return to work; the goal of the employee – stay at home a little bit longer and the goal of the treating doctor – fill out volumes of paperwork so he or she can get paid and keep everyone happy in the process. The key question for employers, did you explain your return to work goals to the physicians who treat your injured employees? Are we asking physicians to be mind readers? Or are we allowing our employees, who may have their own agenda, to determine their return to work options?
April 06, 2009
National Return to Work Week Highlights the Importance of Implementing Stay-at-Work or Return-to-Work Retention Strategies for Ill, Injured or Disabled Employees.
October 20, 2008
Workers compensation expert, Margaret Spence today announced the launch of her free weekly webcast on the BrightTALK Network. The weekly webcasts are designed to engage employers on specific hot button exposures in workers compensation and injury management – and best of all the programs are Free.
May 26, 2008
Can Injured Employees Return to Work Sucessfully?
The answer to getting injured employees back to work starts before you hire them and definitely before they are injured. Having well defined return to work policies and procedures that can be implemented immediate will insure that the employee returns to work - successfully.
May 22, 2008
Is a Safety Hanbook important? Does anyone really read the Handbook? Most safety handbooks end up on a bookshelf with no practical application in the workplace. On rare occasions, the book is dusted off to satisfy the workers´ compensation insurance carrier, or to show OSHA that you have a formal written program, or to find the exact wording to discipline an employee who violated a safety rule. Is there a better way?
April 28, 2008
Supervisors are critical to making any return-to-work program successful. At a minimum supervisors and managers should have a thorough understanding of workers´ compensation, human resources and safety requirements.
April 15, 2008
The workers compensation system does not provide employers with adequate incentive to implement return to work programs. Employers generally do not understand the ripple effect of leaving injured employees at home. Implementing a return to work program should be a priority for most companies unfortunately it is not.
April 08, 2008
Preventing occupational injuries should be at the forefront for all employers. Unfortunately, each year 4.1 million employees sustain preventable workplace injuries or illness. What is the root case? Lack of training. Most accidents can be traced back to a hiring or human resource decision.
March 26, 2008
Florida Legislators Pass Guns in the Workplace Legislation by a Vote of 72/42. Employers are now faced with the reality that employee can legally have guns in their cars at work. Florida employers can not prevent or question employees about weapons in their personal cars.
From Workers´ Comp Claimant to Valued Employee – Injured Employees Can Return to Work – Successfully
March 20, 2008
New Book Challenges Employers to Implement Workers´ Compensation Return to Work Programs. The National Safety Council estimates that there were 80 billion lost work days due to occupational injury or illness in the United States. Occupational injuries and lost work days cost employers $160.4 Billion each year. Through her new book, author Margaret Spence challenges employers to end the off work, settlement cycle and bring injured employees back to work as productive members of your team. From Workers' Comp Claimant to Valued Employee is a step-by-step guide to help employers implement proactive return to work policies and procedures.
December 13, 2007
Employers do not realize the amount of control that they have over the direct and indirect costs of workers´ compensation. The workers´ compensation system was built to benefit employers who implement injury prevention programs by allowing them to pay lower premiums. Most employers do no...