“Workplace Safety Insurance Board steps up spying on clients, documents show” / Patty Winsa (Toronto Star, Jun. 16, 2014)
Internal documents show the WSIB considers psychological conditions or language barriers to be “red flags” for fraud and may order surveillance – and, as documents obtained through a freedom of information request suggest, often without cause.
Article reports the experience of Jennifer Williams, one of many clients whose benefits were reduced after surveillance. Her representative, Maryth Yachnin of IAVGO Community Legal Clinic, which requested the documents, comments:
We believe that the WSIB’s internal guidelines means that the most vulnerable and precarious workers – those with limited English, psychological problems, lack of stable housing, temporary employment – are being targeted for covert surveillance.
Michael Green, a private bar lawyer currently dealing with nine surveillance cases, notes that indication of psychological problem as a reason to conduct surveillance raises questions about discrimination….