What to do when an employee is injured
When your employee gets injured, your support can make a big difference. Helping them recover at work keeps them connected, maintains their routine, and you can help them get back to full duties sooner.
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Your employee gets injured: time to act
- Make sure they visit their doctor or health provider to lodge their ACC claim
- If the injury happened at work, check that it has been reported.
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Start the conversation
- Ask your employee how they are, how the injury is affecting them, and how you can support them with alternative duties.
- Ask your employee for permission if you want to speak with their health provider. This can help you understand their injury, medical certificate, what duties they can safely do, and their treatment plan.
Conversation guide for employers
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Check their medical certificate
If your employee needs to change their work hours or duties while recovering, they’ll need a medical certificate. This outlines what kind of work they can safely do while recovering.
✔ Fit for selected work: your employee will still be able to engage in some work and active rehabilitation.
✗ Fully unfit: the health provider has determined your employee is unable to work in any way.
✔ Fully fit for work: your employee can go back to their full pre-injury duties.
Understanding your employees medical certificate -
Create a recovery at work plan
Giving your employee safe and suitable work while they recover helps them stay connected, maintains their routine, and can help them get back to full duties sooner. This could mean adjusting their tasks, hours, or work environment. They may be able to contribute in other ways across the business, even for a few hours, not just in the role they had before the injury.
Here's how to get started:- Talk through their usual tasks, what’s safe, and what should be avoided.
- Adjust duties, hours, or the work environment as needed.
- Match tasks with what their medical certificate says.
- If anything’s unclear, ask for consent to contact their health provider.
- Write down duties, actions, responsibilities, and timeframes.
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Manage their pay
If we’re providing cover for your employee’s injury, and they need time off work or can’t work their normal hours or duties, we can help with their income.
They can receive income from you and us at the same time, which could mean they get up to 100% of their usual weekly earnings.
How weekly compensation payments work -
Keep them connected to the team
Stay in touch and be ready to adjust the recovery plan based on how your employee is doing and any new advice from their health provider.
- Make sure the tasks and duties match what’s on their medical certificate, and update the plan as needed.
- Keep communication open with your employee and their health provider (if they’ve agreed).
- Even if you don’t have other tasks available, staying in touch and supporting their recovery can help them get back to work sooner, which benefits both your employee and your business.
Stay updated with your employee’s recovery
Log in to MyACC for Business and go to the ‘Recovery at work’ tab, where you can view your employee's claim and medical certificate details. Learn more.
Income for your employee while they’re recovering at work
If we’re providing cover for your employee’s injury, and they need time off work or can’t work their normal hours or duties, we can help with their income.
Resources to help employers
There’s a lot to understand as an employer when an employee gets injured. From knowing how to stay updated, what work they can do safely, and how it works with paying them. Our guides cover everything you need to know.
