IWC Community Legal Clinic

Submission re Bill 148 “Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, 2017”

July 21, 2017

IWC supports Bill 148 as an important first step for vulnerable workers struggling with the effects of precarious and unstable work. The brief proposes solutions to addressing WSIB practice of deeming so injured workers with a permanent work-related disability will not be…

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Submissions to the WSIB Draft Mental Stress Policy Consultation

July 7, 2017

Legal clinic endorses recommendations of the Ontario Federation of Labour‘s submission, and outlines IWC’s principal concerns: overly narrow definition of “chronic mental stress” and “workplace bullying”; added discriminatory barriers to approval and access to care, that set a higher bar for…

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Backgrounder – Minimum wage and deeming

June 30, 2017

While raising the minimum wage in Ontario is centrally important for all workers, there is a dilemma for injured workers because of the WSIB’s practice of “deeming” – when the minimum wage goes up, injured worker benefits go down. The practice of…

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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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