Employee Fitness for Duty
A Fitness for Duty Evaluation can provide concrete information about an employee’s level of functioning and appropriateness for their work environment. By requesting a Fitness for Duty Evaluation, an employer demonstrates good faith in attempting to resolve potentially contentious and litigious workplace situations.
Psychologists and psychiatrists selected by PsyBar can provide concrete information regarding employees’ abilities, risk factors, and assist in planning for return to work. After the evaluation takes place, a preliminary report will be delivered to you by telephone, followed by a written report within five days of the exam. Typically, a Fitness for Duty Evaluation requires an extended interview between the employee and the doctor. On most occasions, the evaluation will include psychological testing beyond the face-to-face evaluation. The evaluation will cover background information, salient issues that led to the request for the evaluation, mental status, risk factors, and review of treatment to date. In addition, our doctors typically consult with the employer and/or other important "collateral" sources of information about employees’ behavior.
We endeavor to schedule evaluations within six to seven business days of receiving a signed Service Agreement from you. Urgent evaluations can sometimes be scheduled to take place in fewer than five business days.
Employers should consider Fitness for Duty Evaluation when they observe any of the following behavior from employees:
- Threat of violence
- Impaired concentration
- Paranoid thinking
- Abusive behavior toward co-workers or customers
- Anxiety, depression, unexplained change in behavior, decreased efficiency, drug/alcohol use