Tuesday, July 7, 2020

New Bill Proposes to Expand WSIB Coverage

Proposal would add retirement homes, residential care facilities, and group homes

Cambridge, ON—CLAC applauds Ottawa South MPP John Fraser for reintroducing a bill yesterday in the Ontario legislature that would expand mandatory Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) coverage to workers in retirement homes, residential care facilities, and group homes. Fraser first introduced the bill in 2017.

“There are people doing the same work in similar settings who aren’t covered,” says Fraser. “That’s not fair. All front-line workers need to know that if they get sick, injured, or—heaven forbid—lose their life on the job, we will take care of them and their families.”

Retirement homes, residential care facilities, and group homes are not included in the list of workplaces for which WSIB coverage is mandatory. As a result, workers in these important sectors are not covered by the public no-fault system if they suffer an injury while at work.

In 2019, WSIB reported that it had successfully eliminated its unfunded liability. As a result, it started offering rebate programs and premiums reductions to employers.

CLAC represents workers in retirement homes and community living homes and has been advocating to have these workplaces added to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act for many years. The union has long argued that private-sector insurance provided by most of these employers is inadequate because, unlike WSIB, it fails to account for loss of earnings for part-time employees with concurrent employment, disregards the relevance of prior workplace injury, and does not allow workers to meaningfully challenge unfair decisions.

“Now is the right time to update the list of workplaces that must provide WSIB coverage,” says Ian DeWaard, CLAC Ontario director. “These are front-line healthcare workers, and they face numerous health and safety risks in the workplace, including those most commonly connected to patient lifts and transfers, as well as violence and physical assault.”

CLAC has been involved with many challenging insurance claims for workers not covered by WSIB, which have caused hardship and suffering to those injured and their families.

“It is important for workers to be taken care of if they are hurt on the job and that they get the support they need to get back into the workforce,” says DeWaard. “In Ontario, WSIB is the only option that provides the proper protection.”

New Bill Proposes to Expand WSIB Coverage

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