In 2018 an amendment to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act came into effect, finally providing all injured workers full Consumer Price Index indexation of benefits on an annual basis – including those on partial disability benefits. Without full cost of living protection (automatic increases to match the actual rate of inflation), the purchasing power of benefits drops and injured workers’ poverty rises. While additional adjustments to benefits were made in Bill 149 (2024), they are complex, vague and discretionary.
Why do injured workers say they are losing out? They argue that the WSIB’s method of calculating the indexing rate is based on an incorrect interpretation of law and policy. For 2022 the Board set its indexing rate at 2.7%, far below the 4.7% increase in their wage-loss benefits that injured workers should have received. Following repeated approaches to the Board, ONIWG launched a court challenge [Grisales v WSIB 2023 ONSC 3846 (CanLII)].
Past policy and statutory interpretations of calculating inflation adjustments that shortchanged injured workers with WSIB claims between 1998 and 2018 were also successfully challenged in a 2019 WSIAT appeals case (Decision No. 3899/17R). Declaring the $42 million owed in back payments as caused by a simple “coding error” (Toronto Star, Sep. 2023), the WSIB notified the 100,000 affected injured workers.
Many promises …
When the workers’ compensation system was introduced back in 1915, inflation was not an issue. By the 70’s and 80’s injured workers saw their benefits being swallowed up by inflation. Eventually the government responded, and in passing Bill 81 (1985) – with the consent of all parties – the Minister of Labour (Hon. w. Wrye) promised the right to an annual adjustment that takes into account the effects of inflation: ” … We should never add to this suffering [of a disabling injury] the indignity of having to come cap in hand to the steps of the Legislature….”
Subsequent workers’ compensation legislative amendments reduced protection from inflation for partially-disabled workers. Despite the 2003 election promises of the Liberal leader, and recommendations of Harry Arthurs’ “Funding Fairness” report (p. 102), there were only ad hoc adjustments but no real move to full cost-of-living adjustment until the Budget Measures Act of 2015 (Bill 144, Schedule 23) which amended the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act (s.49(1)) so that benefits should be adjusted annually on January 1st:
“an indexing factor shall be calculated that is equal to the amount of the percentage change in the consumer price index for Canada for all items, for the 12-month period ending on October 31 of the previous year, as published by Statistics Canada.”
- Ontario Network of Injured Workers Group. 2023 Sep. 13. Letter to the Minister re Injured Workers Cost of Living Adjustments.
- Ontario Network of Injured Workers Groups. 2022 May 10. Presentation on WSIB’s Indexing Rate.
- Robert Storey. 2007. No More Cap in Hand: Cost of Living as a Right. Toronto: Bancroft Institute (IWHP bulletin, no. 3)