RCMP's Audit of Long-Term Sick Leave (LTSL)

Questions and answers

Why was this audit conducted now? Did the RCMP not realize earlier that it had a problem with its management of LTSL among its members?

The RCMP Commissioner heard — and listened to — members who voiced concerns about the management of long-term sick leave and requested that the audit be conducted. It also serves to provide the RCMP with a base to measure future performance against.

Health, wellness and fitness for duty are critical to effective policing. Accordingly, the Commissioner is focused on having a healthy workforce capable of achieving its mandate.

What were the notable findings of the report?

The issues of most concern in the report are:

• Commanders' current knowledge and awareness of their roles and responsibilities is not sufficient to ensure the accurate and timely recording of long-term sick leave.
• Current monitoring and oversight activities are not sufficient to ensure that long-term sick leave is managed appropriately.
• There are no standards against which to measure performance and enable sound management of long-term sick leave and return to work.

What is the RCMP doing to fix its management of long-term sick leave?

When you pay attention to something, it gets addressed. The RCMP is paying close attention to the management of its members on long-term sick leave by:

• Creating, in December 2013, a national action plan that reflects an enhanced disability management model that is being implemented by RCMP divisions across the country. Action items include:
  • tracking the recording and reporting of long-term sick leave in RCMP corporate systems on a quarterly basis
  • developing service standards for disability case management and graduated return to work processes; and
  • requiring quarterly reporting from every RCMP division to the national level on the effectiveness and efficiency of the new disability management model.
• Striving to change its disability management structure which will achieve two main goals:
  1. To promote employee wellness and reduce the incidences of illness and injury, both mental and physical.
  2. To enable employees who are ill or injured to — if possible — stay at work or to help them safely return to work as soon as possible.
• Recognizing that time off work alone is not treatment; the RCMP's goal is to get their employees healthy so that they can return to work in a safe and timely manner.

If RCMP managers were not following existing policy, how can you be sure that they will adhere to any future sick leave policies put in place?

As part of the Commissioner's renewed effort to address long-term sick leave within the RCMP, he has tasked his senior management team with:

• ensuring that long-term sick leave is being managed according to existing policies; and
• passing this directive down to managers throughout the organization.

The new disability management structure that the RCMP is working to put in place will mandate and facilitate intervention within the first few days of an injury. It will make certain that there is active, consistent and ongoing case management that provides RCMP members access to rehabilitation, counseling and return-to-work services. It will also identify Disability Management Advisors whom will have a role of educating all stakeholders on their respective responsibilities in the process.

What other policies are not being followed?

We are confident that this particular situation is not indicative of management practices across the Force.

What is the reason why RCMP managers did not live up to their responsibility to manage sick leave among their staff?

As the RCMP currently operates its own health and disability management system for its members, decisions on whether an employee is too ill or injured to work are sensitive and prone to being contested. As a result, managers may have been reluctant to follow-up with members who were on long-term sick leave regarding their fitness for duty and also due to concerns in relation to medical confidentiality.

Under the proposed model, structured support will be offered to managers to ensure they are in a position to perform their expected management responsibilities in relation to disability management.

How is long-term sick leave defined?

It is defined as an absence due to illness for more than 30 days; five percent of sick leave taken by our members meets this criteria.

Are these absences all due to work-related injuries?

No. In the past, little distinction was made between occupational and non-occupational illness and injury.

We recently implemented a process to determine whether or not a member's illness/injury is work related. This has a direct impact on the health benefits a member is entitled to, and ensures the engagement of members in the return-to-work process.

In terms of salary dollars, what is the cost of having RCMP members off-duty on long-term sick leave?

The current cost estimate of members on long-term sick leave is $80 million. We acknowledge this number is high, however, we must also be cognizant that policing poses an increased risk of physical and psychological work-related injuries.

How many of your members who are currently off-duty on long-term sick leave suffer from PTSD?

Policing poses an increased risk of psychological work-related injuries. Accordingly, approximately 38% of our members who are off-duty sick long-term have cited mental health, including but not exclusive to PTSD, as the reason.

Do you feel the system is being abused?

No it is not.

The RCMP recognizes that commanders and other key positions responsible for assisting members on long-term sick leave need to work in an effective manner to ensure all long-term sick leave is accurately and properly recorded, and that the right level of attention be given to this important issue.

We need to do a better job at disability management and we have already started the implementation of concrete actions to address this issue.

The new disability management structure that the RCMP is working to put in place will mandate and facilitate intervention within the first few days of an injury. It will make certain that there is active, consistent and ongoing case management that provides RCMP members access to rehabilitation, counseling and return-to-work services.