Is 30-day deadline a 'slap in the face' to injured workers or will it help streamline the process?
The Ontario government and the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) are considering reducing the timeline for injured workers to appeal WSIB decisions from six months to 30 days, a move that has triggered outrage among advocates.
"This is a slap in the face to those workers and their families,” says Jamie West, Ontario NDP MPP and current labour critic.
The recommendation is contained in the Value for Money Audit Report by KPMG, which was accepted by the WSIB. Premier Doug Ford and his government will decide whether to implement the recommendation, which is being criticizes as unfair to injured workers.
Despite the vocal opposition, the WSIB told Canadian Occupational Safety it is aiming “to make it simple, easy, and faster for people to resolve a dispute on their claim without having to go through a lengthy appeals process.”
The WSIB also says it will be launching a public consultation process on the recommendations contained in the KPMG report in which stakeholders and community members can offer feedback.
“Our goal is to better meet the needs and expectations of the people we are here to help. While we look forward to improving our dispute resolution and appeals processes, it’s important to note that an appeal within the WSIB is only one part of the appeals system. If someone disagrees with a WSIB appeals decision, they will still have the option of appealing to the independent Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal (WSIAT),” reads the WSIB statement.
However, Francis Pineda, of the Injured Workers Community Legal Clinic, says the proposal is simply not realistic. "The suggestion that injured workers and survivors... are able to find legal advice and file an appeal within 30 days is outrageous," says Francis Pineda with the Injured Workers Community Legal Clinic. Pineda says even if workers could file an appeal within 30 days, legal workers like her couldn’t possibly complete submissions and gather evidence within 60 days, let alone 30. She also claims it can take up to six months to gather the required medical reports.
"As a result of their failure to recognize and confront these realities, KPMG recommends the government impose new burdens on workers, a new access to justice barriers, including the shortest time limit to appeal in any Canadian jurisdiction,” says Pineda, who notes many jurisdictions do not have any time limits to appeal.
The current legislation already states a notice of objection to a WSIB decision concerning return to work must be filed within 30 days of the decision, but it allows six months for all other types of decision.
Pineda participated in a press conference held on the eve of Injured Workers Day, which marked on June 1 every year for the past 40 years. Wayne Harris is the vice president of the Ontario Network of Injured Workers Groups. He says the proposed shorter time limit compounds the challenges injured workers already face.
"It is really tough to navigate the WSIB system due to ever-changing internal policies non-disclosure of policies and procedures along with all the complicated paperwork and timelines,” says Harris, who also claims to be a victim of the practice of deeming. "The WSIB accepted these damaging recommendations from the KPMG report without considering the impact on the workers with physical or mental injuries, illness, stress, or financial duress."
Harris also says the audit fails to mention precarious situations, serious disabilities, language barriers, and limited access to technology that many injured workers and their families contend with.
Janice Folk-Dawson is the executive vice-president of the Ontario Federation of Labour and is calling on the province and the WSIB to reconsider the recommendation. "No worker expects to get hurt at work. No worker expects or should be made to feel like a criminal when they try to seek compensation."
Folk-Dawson says the WSIB system, which is employer-funded, should prioritize the rights and well-being of workers rather than perpetuating a system that leaves them feeling marginalized and deprived of justice.
