NDP: Proposed changes to WSIB would hang injured workers out to dry – and need rethinking

QUEEN’S PARK – Marit Stiles, Leader of the Official Opposition NDP, Jamie West (Sudbury), NDP Critic for Labour, and Lise Vaugeois (Thunder Bay—Superior North), NDP Critic for WSIB and Injured Workers, are raising their concerns about recently proposed changes to the WSIB appeal process that will negatively impact injured workers.

“The proposed changes will make it harder—or outright impossible—for workers to get justice,” Stiles said. “We’re talking about people’s livelihoods and their ability to provide for their families. We can’t let Ford’s Conservatives hang injured workers out to dry.”

Among the changes, which were proposed by private corporate consultants, hired by WSIB, is a push to shorten case appeal time to 30 days. A recent FOI by the Ontario Network of Injured Workers Groups Statistics for statistics from the Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal revealed that over a six month period in 2022, more than 80 percent of negative WSIB decisions were overturned at appeal—indicating that injured and ill workers’ claims are being unfairly denied at the initial adjudication level.

“To require someone in pain to scramble to make an appeal within 30 days is unnecessarily cruel, especially when wait lists to access these services are often much longer than that,” Stiles said.

WSIB is mandated to make injured workers financially whole and to facilitate a safe return to work, if possible. The proposed changes would make both much more difficult.

“How can you claim to say you’re ‘working for workers’ when you’re taking away their access to justice and pushing them into poverty?” Vaugeois said. “The changes all seem designed to let businesses off the hook, which will only force more injured workers onto insufficient public assistance as their only source of support.”

After pressure from injured workers, the labour movement, and the NDP, the government reluctantly and quietly agreed to a truncated consultation process on the proposed changes. The deadline for feedback is today.

The Ontario NDP is calling on the government to:

1. Reject the changes proposed in the KPMG report;
2. Failing this, extend the deadline (currently July 21) to permit submissions for another six months so that unions and the public have time to respond thoroughly to the proposed changes;
3. Ensure consultations occur in a public setting and should be led by experienced workers' compensation advocates; and
4. Notify all injured workers of the consultation so they have the opportunity to respond.

“Injured workers already feel invisible under Ford’s Conservatives,” Vaugeois said. “This government returned $1.2B to businesses from a so-called ‘surplus’ of WSIB funds—that's money effectively stolen from injured workers. As a result, we have seen some injured workers self-medicate with opioids so they can work through the pain, because they’re afraid of losing their only source of income.”

“This fight is about bringing awareness to workplace injuries, standing up for the rights of injured workers and adding more provisions to ensure workers have access to the compensation they need and are entitled to,” added West. “The proposed changes suggest a shift in focus by the WSIB, unjustly placing the burden of workplace injuries on the public rather than holding employers accountable for providing safety and protection at all times. Workers deserve fair treatment and support, not added obstacles on their path to recovery."

QUOTES

Patty Coates, President, Ontario Federation of Labour:

“Put simply, we do not see workers considered in any equation in the audit. The report makes no consideration for those workers who may be unrepresented or who may experience language, ability or other barriers which could prevent them from responding within any of the proposed timeframes. Otherwise, none of these recommendations would have been put forward. We ask that given its fundamental flaws, the report be abandoned. If the WSIB wants to know how workers can receive justice faster, and more frequently, they know who to call.”