Injured workers under threat again

“I had no idea how difficult it was to get workers’ compensation — until I was injured at work.” Something we hear daily as worker advocates. Now, a privately-run audit of the workers’ compensation system would make it even more difficult for workers to get compensation, forcing even more injured workers to access ODSP, or employment insurance as a last resort.

Last year, the WSIB hired multibillion-dollar consulting company, KPMG, to audit the compensation system’s appeals process — the process a worker must navigate to appeal an unfair or faulty WSIB decision.

“Value-for-money” audits were introduced by former Progressive Conservative premier Mike Harris, as part of his cut and slash governance. The audits are supposed to assess the “cost, efficiency and effectiveness” of at least one of the WSIB’s programs. But, year after year, instead of making suggestions for the WSIB to better serve its mandate — to make workers financially whole and to facilitate a safe return to work, if possible — far-removed consulting firms make recommendations that further cut benefits to workers.

This latest “value-for-money” audit is the most odious to date. KPMG manufactured a crisis based on a lack of understanding of the law and WSIB processes. It is not unsimilar to when the WSIB manufactured an “unfunded liability” blunder to the tune of $11.5 billion in 2008, leading to billions in cuts to workers’ benefits, only to turn around last year and give away billions to employers due to a surplus in funds. And guess who made that possible through legislation? Yes, the Ford government, in its Working for Workers Act of 2022.

With mounting pressure from the worker and labour community, the WSIB has now agreed to consult with us in the coming months. However, the KPMG report and its recommendations are already with the provincial Ford government for further action, likely in the form of legislation.

In short, KPMG told the WSIB it should require workers to:

File an appeal of every bad

■

decision within 30 days;

Write detailed arguments

■

simply to have their appeals processed; and

Navigate and complete a detailed

■ online appeal form for their claim to be accepted.

But workers can’t appeal that fast or in depth without a representative, who already have a months-long waiting list. The

WSIB delivers complex and technical decision letters, making it nearly impossible for workers to drive their own appeal — let alone within 30 days.

If the recommendations are legislated by the Ford government, injured workers will face an array of new barriers when seeking WSIB compensation. The recommendations would force advocates to spend all our time trying to meet time limit requirements. We won’t have time left to seek actual justice for injured workers.

KPMG also told the WSIB to introduce systems to encourage “settlement” by injured workers. As advocates who have witnessed the WSIB’s adversarial approach toward workers since Harris, we have deep concerns that such systems will pressure vulnerable workers to surrender their rights without the presence of a legal representative, which runs afoul of the basic principles the compensation system was founded on in 1914.

Many gaps in our workers’ compensation system exist. But we can assure you that none of the KPMG recommendations address them. If the WSIB and the provincial government wants to know what would help injured or ill workers, they know who to call. They’re just not picking up the phone.

PATTY COATES IS THE PRESIDENT OF THE ONTARIO FEDERATION OF LABOUR; JOHN BARTOLOMEO IS A LAWYER/CO-DIRECTOR OF WORKERS’ HEALTH AND SAFETY LEGAL CLINIC; CHRIS GRAWEY IS A COMMUNITY LEGAL WORKER AT INJURED WORKERS COMMUNITY LEGAL CLINIC; MARYTH YACHNIN IS A LAWYER AT IAVGO COMMUNITY LEGAL CLINIC.