Friday, June 18, 2021

Their Risk, Our Responsibility

Extending WSIB coverage to Ontario’s uncovered healthcare workers is long overdue. We can and must do better

By Paul Wilson, Research Director

The pandemic has exposed many weaknesses in our provincial healthcare systems. In Ontario, for example, many healthcare workers in retirement homes, residential care facilities, and homecare have inadequate or no workplace insurance.

Despite being in the high-risk category for experiencing an injury or contracting an illness on the job, these workers are often left to fend for themselves. When they experience an injury or illness that is work-related, these workers have little or no workplace insurance to fall back on.

This coverage gap is a travesty that often has serious and long-lasting consequences. Lost wages from time off work, extensive rehabilitation, family and financial stress, depression, and costly litigation are some of the most common outcomes for these workers.

In some cases, the inability to return to their former job sometimes pushes these workers into poverty and hopelessness.

We have a responsibility to those who put their health and safety at risk every day so they can provide care to our most vulnerable citizens. We can and must do better.

Providing adequate on-the-job insurance coverage for Ontario’s healthcare workers should be a no brainer regardless of one’s political perspective.

For many years in Ontario, CLAC has advocated for the extension of WSIB coverage to healthcare workers who are currently not covered. In a pair of recent submissions, CLAC has put forward the case for extending WSIB coverage to Ontario’s uncovered healthcare workers and called on the Ontario government to make long-overdue changes to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act (WSIA).

For example, in its 2021 prebudget submission, CLAC recommended a first next step to the Ontario government: “Expand WSIB coverage to include workers in retirement homes, residential care facilities, and group homes.”

CLAC will continue to make the case for the extension of WSIB coverage to Ontario’s uncovered healthcare workers. Our healthcare heroes deserve nothing less.

Their Risk, Our Responsibility

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