Benefits

A question of evidence

July 18, 2017

Cutting benefits in spite of the evidence – IAVGO Community Clinic’s recently released report, No Evidence: The Decisions of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, is a strong indictment of the Board’s “bad faith decision-making”. The analysis of the Appeals Tribunal…

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Seeking justice for current chronic mental stress claimants

July 5, 2017

“Lawsuit seeks relief for injured workers struggling with mental illness.” / Sara Mojtehedzadeh (Toronto Star, July 5, 2017) While a recent amendment to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act (Bill 127) extended entitlement to compensation for workers with chronic mental…

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Let’s ensure no injured worker is left behind

June 25, 2017

While injured workers welcome the minimum wage increase (to $15 by 2019) introduced with Bill 148 Fair Workplaces, Better jobs Act, they remind the government that unless the WSIB’s practice of deeming is ended, this measure will hurt many permanently disabled…

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Meanwhile in the House…

June 5, 2017

As injured workers were gathering outside the Assembly for Injured Workers’ Day, John Yakabuski (MPP for Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke) raised a question in the Legislature on the WSIB’s hearing aid program: “This past January, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board made significant changes to…

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Bill 127 amendments to WSIA … a mixed bag

May 26, 2017

The government managed to sneak some changes to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act into this year’s Budget Measures bill, Bill 127 . The changes were buried in the very last schedule (Schedule 33) of the Act, which passed into law on…

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Access to medical marijuana unchanged

May 14, 2017

On April 13 the Canadian government introduced its proposed Cannabis Act to legalize marijuana, intended to come into effect July 2018. Based on recommendations of the Task Force for Marijuana Legalization and Regulation, the government proposes to keep in place the current…

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Ontario budget proposes changes to workers’ compensation act

April 30, 2017

This past Thursday the government introduced its Ontario Budget omnibus Bill 127 – Stronger, Healthier Ontario (Budget Measures) Act 2017. Among the proposed changes to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act in the bill (see Schedule 33) are measures to remove…

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Class action suit progressing

April 11, 2017

In February 2017 Ontario’s Appeal Court (Castrillo v. Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, 2017 ONCA 121 (CanLII)) gave a green light to a class action lawsuit against the WSIB that applies the legal concept of misfeasance in public office. The court…

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Injured workers: what deeming means to us

April 7, 2017

Despite government promises to eliminate deeming, injured workers remain victims of the WSIB practice under a new name (“determining”). Phantom job, phantom wages : “Deeming” refers to the practice used by the workers’ compensation Board to decide the compensation that it…

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“Caught in bureaucratic limbo” .. struggling to get by

March 23, 2017

“Why a family of six in Oakville is living on $36K a year: the WSIB refused to compensation Steve Rescan, 40, after back issues forced him to stop working” / Lisa Xing (CBC News Toronto, Mar. 22, 2017) A construction…

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