IWC Community Legal Clinic

Workplace chronic mental stress claims in Ontario

November 15, 2016

With passage of Bill 99 (1998), the WSIB no longer accepts claims for mental stress conditions that emerge over time. Despite an Appeals Tribunal finding that it is unconstitutional and discriminatory to exclude chronic mental injuries, workers continue to be denied coverage,…

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Complaint to the Ombudsman of Ontario: WSIB Refusal to Compensate for Chronic Occupational Stress

November 9, 2016

A request for the Ombudsman to investigate the WSIB’s continued application of legislative provisions and policy that have been found unconstitutional and discriminate against workers suffering chronic occupational mental health disabilities.…

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Backgrounder – Clothing allowance

October 30, 2016

A clothing allowance is a yearly sum injured workers receive if they wear a brace or other device needed for their injury that causes clothing damage. After successful lobbying to restore full funding after the allowance was halved by the WSIB during…

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Submission to the Changing Workplaces Review on the Interim Report

October 14, 2016

In a second submission, IWC calls on the Special Advisors to reject options that will introduce more precarity to Ontario’s labour market and instead recommend legislative changes to protect migrant workers, who are particularly vulnerable to abuse……

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Commentary on Bill 163 supporting Ontario’s First Responders’ Act

March 8, 2016

Clinic’s submission to the Standing Committee on Social Policy welcomes the assistance the presumptive amendment provides to first responders suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) but also makes recommendations on addressing more broadly the under-compensation of work-related mental health disabilities.…

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Submission re Bill 109, Employment and Labour Statute Amendment Act 2015

November 25, 2015

Many of the injured workers IWC assists are women, immigrants, and work in non-union or precarious employment situations. The Clinic supports the bill’s proposed amendment to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act (s.22) which would target direct and indirect claims suppression but…

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IWC submissions to the Changing Workplaces Review

September 18, 2015

Supplementary to oral presentation made to the Special Advisors, this written submission continues to ask that the experience and perspective of injured workers be taken into account in reforming the employment standards regime. The submission’s recommendations therefore address a focus on health…

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Presentation to Changing Workplaces Review

September 11, 2015

Oral presentation describes how injured workers can fall through the cracks of employment legislation, including the Employment Standards Act, intended to protect them. The deputation before the Special Advisors explains also how other important employment laws such as the Workplace Safety and…

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Backgrounder – Experience rating

February 28, 2015

Experience rating (ER), a financial incentive program for employers used by the WSIB to promote occupational health and safety, is not achieving its goals but instead hurts injured workers in many ways. Employer resources are diverted from workplace safety improvement towards claims…

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