Unfunded liability

For the past decade employer organizations, the WCB/WSIB and the Ministry of Labour have raised the unfunded liability as a central theme in all discussions of workers' compensation reform. The argument goes that there is an unfunded liability, that this is a bad thing that threatens the viability of the workers' compensation system, and that the elimination of the unfunded liability must therefore be a priority for the Board. Improving benefits for injured workers, or simply restoring the cost of living adjustments that once applied to injured workers' benefits, cannot be on the table until later, once the unfunded liability is eliminated.

If you accept this line of reasoning, injured workers will never see the restoration of cost of living adjustments, compensation will never be improved, and their suffering will only increase. There is another way to understand where future costs fit into the balance sheet. This other way allows for needed reform.

Learn more...

"Who Paid for the WCB's 'Unfunded Liability' in the Harris years?" [pdf]
Submission by Injured Workers' Consultants to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts considering the Auditor General's Report, June 1, 2010 [pdf]
Submission by ONIWG to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts considering the Auditor General's Report, June 1, 2010 [pdf]
Standing Committee on Public Accounts at Queen's Park hears testimony from the Board and Deputy Minister of Labour on the Auditor General's 2009 report
A dramatic response to the Auditor General's report on unfunded liability... [skit]
Join the RAACWI Community Forum on Monday February 8th, 2010, for a discussion on what the Auditor General says and recommends on unfunded liability in his 2009 Annual report .
"The injured worker community view of unfunded liability" (IWC / Bright Lights Injured Workers, Aug. 2005) [pdf]