Recent documents are in both PDF and html formats but all may be available in alternate formats on request.
Submissions – WSIB Appeals Modernization Consultation
Brief disputes the Consultation paper’s analysis of the reason for the appeals backlog, attributing it rather to a change in Operations-level decision-making that arises from upper management’s decision to control benefits without policy change. Details concerns with limiting oral hearings and downside risk.
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Letters on the Benefits policy consultation process
IWC letter to the Minister of Labour points to the steamroller of change driven by the WSIB management and the need for adequate timeframe to prepare submissions for genuine consultation; attached to letter from ONIWG to chair Jim Thomas on tight timelines, noting that this consultation is concurrent with proposed changes to Appeals and review […]
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Submission on the proposed changes to the appeal system
Letter to the Minister of Labour, with submission to the Board, highlights concerns over the downside risk waiver, complexity of forms, and proposal to limit oral hearings. Group calls for the Board to keep the process simple and address backlog in better ways.
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Submission re Proposed changes to the Appeals program
Lawyer, with over 36 years’ experience representing injured workers, provides historical context for Ontario’s appeal system and, noting the backlog is a crisis of the Board’s own making, delivers a strong critique of proposed changes. In particular, letter addresses the use of downside risk and potential review of uncontested prior decisions as a scare tactic […]
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Presentations to Agency review: Workplace Safety and Insurance Board
Transcript of presentations by legal advocates and injured workers to the Standing Committee on Government Agencies which address changes to workers’ compensation policies and practices that attack fairness. These include increased claims denial, appeals process, cost-cutting on the backs of workers, deeming, KPMG report, experience rating. Discusses also Arthurs’ Funding Review recommendations.
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Re Ignoring Professor Arthurs’ quest for fairness for the injured
In open letter to the premier, ONIWG responds to the recently announced 2013/2014 cost of living adjustments of 0.5% which, being below the expected inflation rate, means a real reduction in benefits. This runs counter to Arthurs’ recommendation of full COLA.
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Submission re: KPMG Value for Money Audit (on claims adjudication and administration)
Clinics’ Network critiques the KPMG report for providing a flawed analysis, exceeding the mandate of an independent value for money audit and making policy recommendations based on their misunderstanding of Ontario workers’ compensation law and legal principles. It calls on the Premier to stop WSIB implementing from its recommendations before there have been public consultations […]
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Re: Why the KPMG report on adjudication is so upsetting
Clinic details objections to a poorly-researched paper by the external consulting company that advocates disbanding the key tenets of Ontario’s workers compensation system.
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Additional submission to Professor Harry Arthurs regarding indexation of benefits
In applauding the provisional report’s statement that the restoration of full indexing is a matter of urgency and fundamental fairness, the organizations call for ongoing improvements to catch-up indexing and restitution of past losses through a corrective Friedland formula for annual adjustments.
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KPMG Report on WSIB Adjudication: concerns about injured workers paying for WSIB unfunded liability
Letter to the Premier, in light of KPMG recommendations which seem aimed at transferring the cost off employers, reminds him of promise not to deal with unfunded liability on the backs of injured workers.
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