PART VII RETURN TO WORK AND REHABILITATION — Duty to co-operate in return to work

contacting the worker as soon as possible after the injury occurs and maintaining communication throughout the period of the worker's recovery; contacting the employer as soon as possible after the injury occurs and maintaining communication throughout the period of the worker's recovery;

providing suitable employment that is available and consistent with the worker's functional abilities and that, where possible, restores the worker's pre-injury earnings; assisting the employer, as may be required or requested, to identify suitable employment that is available and consistent with the worker's functional abilities and that, where possible, restores the worker's pre-injury earnings;

giving the commission the information the commission may request concerning the worker's return to work; and accepting suitable employment identified under paragraph (b);

doing other things that may be prescribed in the regulations. giving the commission the information the commission may request concerning the worker's return to work; and

A worker shall co-operate in the early and safe return to work by

doing other things that may be prescribed in the regulations.

The commission may contact the employer and the worker to monitor their progress on returning the worker to work to determine whether they are fulfilling their obligations to co-operate and to determine whether any assistance is required to facilitate the worker's return to work.

The employer or the worker shall notify the commission of any difficulty or dispute concerning their co-operation with each other in the worker's early and safe return to work.

Where the commission received notice under subsection (4), t he commission shall attempt to resolve the dispute through mediation and, if mediation is not successful, shall decide the matter within 60 days after receiving the notice or within the longer period that the commission may determine.

Where mediation is provided under this section, the mediator shall not participate in a hearing or proceeding in relation to the subject of the mediation without the consent of the parties to the hearing or proceeding.

Where the commission determines that a worker has failed to comply with this section, the commission may suspend, reduce or terminate the worker's compensation.

Where the commission determines that an employer has failed to comply with this section, the commission may levy a penalty on the employer not exceeding the cost to the commission of providing benefits, return to work and rehabilitation services to the worker while the non-compliance continues.

A penalty payable under subsection (8) is an amount owing to the commission and may be added to the employer's assessment and payment enforced under section 140.