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Sweeping Changes on the Table for WSIB’s Incentive Program

Loopholes that compromise accountability and fairness would be closed

 

By Heidi Croot

 

In an attempt to close any loopholes that compromise accountability and fairness, the WSIB has been conducting a review to improve its experience rating program - the program that rewards employers with rebates, or penalizes them with surcharges, according to their health and safety performance based on their claims costs. If the recommendations of actuarial consulting company Morneau Sobeco are approved, they will result in sweeping changes for Ontario employers, in a way that will personally affect CEOs, CFOs and other senior executives.

The review addresses several issues that currently undermine the credibility of the WSIB's incentive programs. Here are just two:

• Failure to report injuries makes some employers appear to have better performance
• There is no link between an employer receiving a rebate or surcharge, and meeting its legislative obligations.

Two areas of potential unfairness exist within the current practices:

     The Second Injury and Enhancement Fund (SIEF) policy - intended to encourage employers to employ disabled workers - is in some cases having a negative impact on return to work. This is because under SIEF, disability costs are associated with the previous employer, which means the "current" employer has no incentive to bring the worker back on modified duties on a timely basis;

     The Employer Advances policy - intended to reimburse all advances for Schedule 1 employers - has given some firms an option in choosing to continue to pay or not pay a worker, thereby influencing whether a claim is considered to be a lost time or no-lost-time injury.

Four of the recommendations in the report include:

• The WSIB would pay refunds to employers only if they could confirm compliance with the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act and Occupational Health and Safety Act.
  • Mandatory disclosure of workplace practices, which would include an annual declaration of compliance by the CEO, CFO, or senior executive.
• If convicted of a health and safety transgression, the firm would be required to undertake corrective action and then achieve a minimum score on a follow-up audit before receiving a rebate. In addition, a portion or the entire rebate could be used to finance the costs of the corrective action.
• The SIEF policy would be amended to eliminate rebates to firms where there is:
  • A pre-existing condition but no pre-existing disability;
  • A pre-existing disability resulting from an injury with the same employer.
• The practice that allows employers to advance wages to injured workers would apply only when the worker is attending a medical appointment.

As part of its research, Morneau Sobeco met with stakeholders representing employer and labour groups. Stakeholders will have an additional opportunity to comment on the report and recommendations to be led in the coming weeks by the Hon. Steven W. Mahoney, WSIB Chair.

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