A timeline of the changes to Ontario’s workers’ compensation benefits since 1915 reveals a story of progress and regression. Changes introduced in Bill 105 (2026) propose restoring Loss of Earnings (LOE) benefits from 85% to 90% of pre-injury net earnings but threaten to end the 72-month lock-in, create new benefit deductions, and subject all permanently injured and ill workers to perpetual probation and a permanent threat of poverty.
The proposed WSIA amendment follows major changes in 2014 to WSIB benefits policies and more recently to appeals procedures which have resulted in a “massive cutback to injured workers’ benefits. The theme in the revised benefit policies is to get decision makers to ‘look to deny’ by questioning work relatedness every step of the way. This approach rejects the legal principles and tries to ‘medicalize’ the decision making process.
The increase in denied claims has forced many workers onto social assistance, while those with allowed claims are receiving lower average Loss of Earnings (LOE) payments and decreases in other benefits, including health and retraining services.