Issues and campaigns
Read here overviews of current workers' compensation concerns and responses from the community:
Age-based discrimination
Older workers in Ontario have a number of age based limitations on their workers' compensation benefits and retirement income ... [more]
Appeal rights under threat
Following restrictions on workers' access to oral hearings in 2009, proposed new "modernizations" in 2012 undermine the right to appeal WSIB decisions ... [more]
Benefits - under threat?
The last few years have brought cutbacks. In the ongoing 2012 Benefits Policy Review, the injured worker's voice must be heard...[more]
Clothing allowance
A clothing allowance is a yearly sum an injured worker receives if he/she wears a prosthetic device necessary for the injury that causes clothing damage. Injured workers have been waging a long-standing battle
over 1996 Board policy that cut this allowance by half... [more]
Cost of
living - inflation protection as a right
Despite recent increases, injured workers are still trying to survive on nearly 20% less than they received in 1996... [more]
Deeming - it's just wrong!
Phantom wage for a phantom job... What if your injury has left you with a permanent injury that prevents you from returning to your former job? If you are unable to find a suitable job, the WCB will deem
you to have a job. The Board can then reduce or eliminate your benefits by
deeming you to be receiving the wages from a job that you do
not have and have no real hope of getting... [more]
Experience rating
Experience rating creates financial incentives for employers to hide or not report accidents, fight claims,
and put injured workers at risk of re-injury by pressuring them back to work before they have had time to properly heal...[more]
Funding and the "unfunded liability"
It is a myth that the unfunded liability presents a danger to the WCB's finances; fear and panic about
the unfunded liability, however, present a significant threat to injured workers’
livelihoods and the integrity of compensation system...[more]
KPMG 2010/2011 value for money audit
The audit of the Adjudication & Claims Administration Program by the private consultant not only
went beyond its mandate by making policy recommendations, but based these on a lack of understanding of
Ontario's workers compensation system and the Act...[more]
Poverty
The financial effects of a work injury or disease on an injured worker and his/her family often compound
the physical and psychological harm. ONIWG surveys, RAACWI research and other studies document
economic stress and its impact....[more]
Return to work ⁄ Work reintegration
In 2011 a new Work Reintegration Program replaced the Board's Labour Market Re-entry and Early and Safe Return to Work programs.
Adequate time to heal is just one of many concerns expressed about the new policy..[more]
Universal coverage
Most people think that all workplace accidents are covered by our compensation system. But this is not true...[more]