ONTARIO—The Ontario government has passed legislation that amends three separate acts affecting workers, helping to further ensure the rights of employees across the province are protected. The announcement is very good news for injured workers, says the president of the Manitoulin North Shore Injured Workers Group (MNIWG).
“Our government is committed to advancing safe, fair and respectful workplace practices,” said Kevin Flynn, Minister of Labour, in an announcement December 10. “This new legislation provides increased fairness to workers across Ontario by strengthening protections in legislation and holding employers accountable.”
“It is very good news,” stated Colin Pick, president of MNIWG.
The Employment and Labour Statute Law Amendment Act, 2015, will amend the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, the Fire Prevention and Protection Act and the Public Sector Labour Relations Transition Act to: allow Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) survivor benefits to be calculated based on the average earnings, at the time of diagnosis, of the decreased worker’s occupation rather than the current legislated minimum, which will potentially increase the amount of support survivors receive.
It will prohibit employers from trying to prevent workers reporting workplace injury or illness to the WSIB by making it an offence to do so.
The legislation will increase maximum corporate penalties from $100,000 to $500,000 for conviction of an offence under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act such as knowingly providing a false or misleading statement to the board or willfully failing to inform the board of a material change in circumstance in connection with an obligation of the employer under the Act within 10 days of the change.
The legislation will require the WSIB board of directors to appoint a fair practices commissioner to act as an ombudsman for injured workers, employees and WSIB service providers. It will help reduce the potential for disruption and delay for workers in the broader public sector when there are changes to bargaining units following certain events such as amalgamations or restructurings.
And the new legislation will provide more dispute resolution tools for the professional fire services sector by allowing labour relations disputes to be heard by the Ontario Labour Relations Board as opposed to the Ontario Courts.
“I’m surprised by the announcement, but it is good news,” said Mr. Pick. “One of the things it should alleviate is that in the past no matter what wage an employee was making if they weren’t able to do their normal job, because of an injury, they (WSIB) would deem the person was able to do certain functions of a different job, and would provide this amount of dollars while the worker was injured and couldn’t work, not what they were supposed to be receiving.”
“I think one of the big reasons the government is doing has come about because of concerns that have been raised by doctors in Sudbury on this issue and their calls, and those from the Opposition demanding an investigation into WSIB mistreatment of injured workers,” added Mr. Pick.
