'When employees are unavailable for work, services still need to be delivered'
City of Edmonton short‑term disability absences generated nearly $21.9 million in overtime in 2025, a level of backfilling that OHS professionals will recognise as a direct risk factor for fatigue, error and injuries in essential services, according to a recent report.
A new audit of the city’s Abilities Management Program reports more than 518,000 work hours were lost to short‑term disability last year and flags mounting pressures from mental‑health‑related cases and weaknesses in file management, noted the Edmonton Journal.
Officials said that, excluding the COVID‑19 spike, overall disability claim rates over the past eight years have broadly tracked workforce growth. Short‑term disability currently represents about 0.5 per cent of total work hours and 0.2 per cent of payroll, according to the report.
Human Resources Client Services branch manager Catherine Sparks warned, however, that claim activity has trended upwards since 2020, coinciding with changing attendance patterns and more complex cases.
Essential services feel impact of absences
The Abilities Management Program oversees employees who are temporarily unable to work due to illness, off‑duty injury or significant mental‑health issues. Short‑term disability claims cover absences between five and 85 days, while long‑term disability is handled by an external provider.
Sparks stressed many front‑line roles cannot simply slow down or redistribute work when staff are away.
“When employees are unavailable for work, services still need to be delivered,” she said, according to the Edmonton Journal article. “In some areas the work can be redistributed or slowed, but in others such as transit, 311, fire, payroll, bylaw enforcement — these positions must be backfilled to ensure continuity of service.”
The audit also highlighted internal resource pressures. Sparks reported that each permanent consultant on the seven‑person Abilities Management Team was carrying roughly 100 open files — about double the recommended caseload — while collectively managing up to 3,000 new cases per year.
Audit flags documentation and data‑quality gaps
Auditors concluded the Human Resources Client Services branch only “partially” met its disability‑management objectives. Reviews of cases were occurring, but the rationale for decisions and details of those reviews were often missing from files.
The report found no evidence the city was assessing the effectiveness of its modified duty program, which is meant to place employees into suitable temporary work when they cannot perform their regular roles.
Documentation weaknesses were a recurring finding. Between 2023 and 2025, only about two per cent of disability files were subject to documented review. In a 2024 sample of 15 cases, two contained incomplete medical diagnoses.
Auditors also identified data‑quality issues on the program dashboard. In 17 cases, the “case decision date” preceded the “case received date”.
Incorrect dates of birth were found in letters to physicians and in an independent medical examiner’s report, creating a risk that one worker’s medical information could be confused with another’s, according to the Edmonton Journal.
Mental‑health complexity and ‘stay at work’ response
Sparks told the audit committee that disability files are becoming more complex, with mental‑health‑related absences increasing and access to specialists and diagnostics often delayed.
“Since the pandemic, attendance patterns have changed,” she said, according to the report. “Case complexity, particularly those related to mental health, has increased and access to specialists and diagnostics has been delayed. These pressures are being experienced across all large Canadian employers and not unique to the city.”
A city spokesperson reported that mental‑health‑related claims have risen by roughly 25 per cent since the pandemic, with average annual cases climbing from 432 in 2018‑19 to 548 in 2024‑25, the Edmonton Journal reported.
City administration plans to implement two audit recommendations by June 30 this year and the remaining changes by March 31, 2027.
Sparks said her branch is developing a broader “stay at work” strategy focused on more proactive case management and earlier intervention in high‑risk or prolonged files, while warning that meaningful change will require rethinking how loss prevention is resourced, according to the report.
