Submission to the WSIB Chair underscores that the auditor’s findings that make a number of errors which demonstrate a lack of understanding of Ontario’s workers’ compensation system. If adopted, the recommendations will negatively impact injured workers’ access to justice – many of the most vulnerable injured workers won’t be able to appeal their decisions and will not receive full compensation under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act… read full letter
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In an opinion piece “Injured workers under threat again” published in the Hamilton Spectator, IWC’s Chris Grawey joined John Bartolomeo (co-director, Workers’ Health & Safety Legal Clinic), Maryth Yachnin (lawyer, IAVGO Community Legal Clinic), Patty Coates (president, Ontario Federation of Labour) in detailing why consulting company KPMG’s recent Value for Money Audit on the WSIB’s appeal and dispute resolution systems “manufactures a crisis based on a lack of understanding of the law and WSIB processes.”
If the current recommendations are legislated by the government, injured workers and their legal representatives will face yet more barriers in seeking justice in workers’ compensation claims. Read full article.
IWC’s community legal worker Francis Pineda responds in a recent Canadian Occupational Safety article to the WSIB’s assertion that lowering the deadline to appeal WSIB decisions from six months to 30 days will streamline the process without harming workers’ due process and access to justice. He rejects as outrageous the KPMG audit report recommendations which would suggest that injured workers and survivors are able to find legal advice and file an appeal within 30 days (and their worker representatives prepare submissions and gather the necessary medical reports), noting that this would create the shortest time limit in any Canadian jurisdiction… Read the full article.
In April the Thunder Bay District & Support Workers and IWC, following community consultation, issued a complaint to the Ombudsman. Information sessions continue to be held around the province on the negative impacts these changes, if implemented as recommended, could have for injured workers.
Yesterday, in a media conference, held on the eve of the annual Injured Workers Day, the Ontario Network of Injured Workers Groups (ONIWG) and injured and ill injured worker allies called on the provincial government to stop the recommendations from the KPMG report.
In a Toronto Star article highlighting the systematic denial of chronic stress claims since the 2018 reforms, IWC’s Chris Grawey notes that “far from providing a safety net to vulnerable workers, the board’s approach to chronic stress has turned into a “get-out-of-compensation-free card for both the WSIB and employers..”
Following employer lobbying, the Board has applied a stricter legal test for chronic mental stress injuries than for all other types of injuries – requiring claimants show the workplace is the ‘predominant cause’ not just a ‘significant contributing factor’. As IAVGO’s Maryth Yachnin comments, Ontario’s compensation Appeals Tribunal (WSIAT) has found this higher bar unjustified. “Both can be complicated and both can have multiple causes, the tribunal noted: the board’s job in both scenarios is to follow the evidence and arrive at a fair decision…”
Read full article: “Chronic stress is a recognized work injury. So why does Ontario’s WSIB reject more than 90% of claims?” / Sara Mojtahedzadeh (Toronto Star, May 6, 2023)
Following a community consultation, IWC and Thunder Bay and District Injured Workers Support Group call for a meeting with the Ombudsman to address WSIB response to key recommendations made by the KPMG Value for Money Audit of the dispute resolution and appeals system, in particular the proposed drastic reductions to the time to appeal which would disentitle most injured workers. In addition to lessening access to justice for injured workers, the report includes recommendations that contravene Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Act.
In summary, the KPMG report recommendations would:
- add 3 new time limits for injured workers within a 90 day period
- cut the time limit to object to decisions from 6 months to 1 month
- cut the amount of time for injured workers to find a legal representative
Read and download the full letter to the Ombudsman.
