7 Best Practices for Helping Injured Workers

There are seven best practices that OCC is committed to utilizing in helping our clients. We hope that attorneys and other counseling services will adopt these practices to get more of the money into the pockets of injured workers and to prevent the misuse of these funds.

1. The Ability-to-Benefit (ABT) test has recently been used to discriminate against injured workers without much past education. The test is required to receive financial aid by most US public colleges that admit students without a high school diploma or the certificate of equivalency. The previously uneducated are not marked as eligible for education. We firmly believe in improving the quality of people’s lives by pulling them up, not throwing them away. We step up and tutor our clients to pass the ABT. If we all band together and create systems and support injured workers, we will be able to help them thrive.

2. Many injured workers are not receiving the tools, including computers that have been approved and paid for. We pride ourselves on our follow up, and making sure that all clients receive the resources they are promised is a big part of that.

3. Often non-English speaking clients are signed up for classes that are taught in English. The number of classes taught in Spanish is very limited. OCC partners schools with translators to give students more options. Having a translator or a bilingual teacher allows clients to experience wider options in their education.

4. Students are challenging themselves which is great, but some adjusters are judging these challenges as beyond their level of education or skill. This is not something that should be discouraged or denied. We all need to push ourselves beyond our current levels. Being uneducated in working with computers should not be a reason to deny people the opportunity. OCC counsels injured workers to take classes to become more proficient in computers and encourages them to take classes beyond their current skill levels to improve the quality of their lives.

5. We have adopted distance learning as a totally viable way to get an education. Students may be hours away from a school that offers the class they want. Distance learning is very common now. Computers make this kind of learning feasible. Being denied a benefit because your school is hundreds of miles away is no longer acceptable.

6. Some clients are not able to use their education voucher right away. It is very common for injured workers to need a break. The issue that arises is that the voucher expires and they are not able to go to school when they are ready. Breaks are very common in anyone’s education, not only for injured workers. Reasons vary from dealing with grief or depression, physical health concerns, considering a different field, and not feeling ready to tackle particular coursework. We feel that our clients should be able to hit “pause” as long as they are in close communication with their counselor. When they are ready we can diligently evaluate if the school is a good fit and make sure they have the tools they need.

7. We advocate for our clients. If they start an educational program that does not end up suiting their needs, there are some schools that are not as honest as others and will refuse the student a refund. We will fight to get that money back so the student can pursue another program. OCC counsels our clients as they choose a school, as they begin their program, and throughout their course of study. They can count on us to be there to help.