Research Program Website: Policy and Practice in Return to Work After a Work Injury
Research Program Summary
Professor Katherine Lippel has been awarded a joint CIHR−SSHRC Partnership Grant for a project entitled “Policy and practice in return to work after work injury: Challenging circumstances and innovative solutions.” The grant is part of the Healthy and Productive Work Initiative, overseen jointly by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research(CIHR) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).
Thanks to funding received from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research in the context of the Healthy and Productive Work competition, we have gathered a multi-disciplinary team of 14 academics, 17 partners and over 20 trainees to address the overarching policy question:
How can Canadian public policies promote better practices to ensure sustainable return to work for all injured workers?
More specifically, seven research programs will examine the scope and effectiveness of regulated return to work policies and the application of those protections to three categories of workers. These include workers injured: 1) while working in non-standard employment (temporary, on-call, part-time, and self-employed workers); 2) while engaging in employment-related geographic mobility or 3) while working full time at minimum wage.
This research program’s scope currently includes workers living in Québec, Ontario and the Maritime Provinces and may expand to other Canadian provinces. When possible, we will include both unionized and non-unionized workers within the purview of our research, and partners are chosen accordingly.
We are also interested more broadly in the situation of workers suffering from either physical or mental health problems attributable to the workplace and in the roles of unions and workplaces in supporting return to work in light of the applicable policy frameworks.
Below are the 7 research programs, some of which include several projects:
1 - Classic legal analysis of rules governing injured workers' rights
Katherine Lippel, law professor at the University of Ottawa, Civil Law section
Rachel Cox, law professor at the Département des sciences juridiques, UQAM
2 - Precarious employment and return to work after work injury: an Ontario portrait
Ellen MacEachen, professor at the School of Public Health and Health Systems, University of Waterloo
Partners: IAVGO Community Legal Clinic (IAVGO); Office of the Worker Adviser (OWA); Office of the Employer Advisor (OEA)
3 - Precarious employment and return to work after work injury: a Quebec portrait
Katherine Lippel, law professor at the University of Ottawa, Civil Law section
Partners : Union des travailleuses et travailleurs accidentés ou malades (UTTAM); Syndicat canadien de la fonction publique - Québec (SCFP-Québec)
4 - Employment-related geographic mobility and return to work after work injury
Barbara Neis, Sociology professor at Memorial University, and colleagues.
Partners: Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour (NLFL)
5 - Tools for workplaces and unions to assist workers with physical or mental health problems to return to work
Louise St-Arnaud, psychologist and professor at the Département des fondements et pratiques en éducation, Université Laval
Mariève Pelletier, Phd, vocational guidance counsellor and researcher at the Institut national de la santé publique du Québec
Katherine Lippel, law professor at the University of Ottawa, Civil Law section
Rachel Cox, law professor at the Département des sciences juridiques, UQAM
Partners : Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ), SCFP Québec, Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) and others
6 - Return to work, precarity and immigration/migration
Stephanie Premji, professor at the School of Labour Studies, McMaster University
Daniel Côté, researcher at the Institut de recherche Robert Sauvé en santé et sécurité du travail and adjunct professor at the Université de Montréal
Sylvie Gravel, professor of occupational health and safety in management studies at UQAM
Mircea Vultur, sociologist and researcher at the Institut national de la recherche scientifique
Janet McLaughlin, professor of Health Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University
Jenna Hennebry, professor at the Department of Communication Studies and School of International Policy and Governance, Wilfrid Laurier University
Partners: IAVGO Community Legal Clinic; Access Alliance
7 – Synthesis of empirical and legal studies to promote sustainable return to work for target populations Entire research team.
All of our studies include gender and intersectional lenses, seeking to ensure that academics and partners understand how policies and practices apply to women and men. This approach will include a consideration of work-family balance issues, at the time of determination of suitable post-injury employment, but also consideration of the segmented labour market, and the disproportionate presence of women in part time, temporary, and low wage employment.
Partners supporting this research program include governmental bodies (OWA, OEA, IAVGO), unions such as the CLC, the SCFP-Québec and the NLFL), non-governmental organizations (UTTAM, Access Alliance) and public health bodies such as the INSPQ. Their participation in research design and knowledge mobilisation will strengthen the research program and facilitate recruitment of new partners while providing economic support for our activities.
Professor Katherine Lippel is the Project Director of this research program and holds the Canada Research Chair on Occupational Health and Safety Law at the Faculty of Law, Civil Law Section at the University of Ottawa, [email protected]
