Non-Occupational Absence: The System No One Built

With over 30 years in the disability management field — including both employment and

consulting — I have observed consistent patterns in how organizations respond to disability.

There has been a significant focus on managing WSIB claims and lost time. Many organizations have invested heavily in building structured processes to address occupational injuries early and effectively.

At the same time, non-occupational (sick) leave has been left to fend on its own, and therefore has continued to rise.

While one side of the system became more defined and actively managed (WSIB), the other

(sick claims) was largely left without the same level of structure, attention, or early involvement.

Throughout my consulting work, I have consistently advised organizations to manage both

occupational and non-occupational claims together. However, common assumption persists that have not permitted employers to address the issues:

1. Insurance carriers are managing these sick claims

2. Medical non-work-related issues are not the employer’s responsibility.

3. There is nothing to be done with medical claims as this is private

4. WSIB costs more than sick time

Over time, this has created a gap in how organizations respond to non-occupational absence.

In most cases, the first real point of visibility on sick claims occurs only after an employee is

already off work. There is little structured focus on what may have been building beforehand — and limited effort to address those factors before they result in absence.

This is where the issue begins. Not necessarily at the point of claim — but in the absence of

early awareness and system-level response.

While disability is often viewed through a medical lens, there are frequently workplace and

system factors that influence how these situations evolve. When those factors are not identified or addressed early, absence becomes the outcome.

Many of the sick claims have a work component to it, but much more difficult to prove which is why many employees and their physicians, choose the non-occupational claim route for

processing of the employee’s time off work. Further to this, it’s an area of less visibility – as in no one looks further into why this person has this medical issue. We make further assumptions that family history, stress, and prior health have everything to do with the absence, but in reality, all of these assumptions are why the systems have failed the individual. We look too far down the road, and in actual fact we tend to be more focused on treating versus determining the root cause.

Unfortunately, little work is being done in the early stages — long before a disability is formally recognized — to understand why an employee moves toward absence.

In many cases, if it is not work-related, it is simply left as is.

While organizations have made significant progress in workplace safety and early, supported

return to work, these same principles have not been applied to non-occupational absence.

The opportunity is not to manage these claims more effectively once they occur — but to begin working earlier in the cycle, before absence becomes the outcome.

Reach out to me for a chat and we can strategize how to best help your organization!

Lucie@FournierHealth.com