Responsibilities of the Workplace Parties in Work Reintegration.
The workplace parties (workers and employers) are required to co-operate in the return to work reintegration (WR) process.
When certain conditions are met, employers may have, in addition to their obligations to co-operate in the WR process, an obligation to re-employ an injured worker who has been unable to work as a result of the work-related injury/disease.
The focus of the workplace parties’ WR activities is to work together to return the worker to the pre-injury job (with accommodation where required). Ideally, the worker will return to the pre-injury work.
WSIB has a new Return to Work Policy obligation for employers, the Work Reintegration Program (WR).
In November 2010 the WSIB announced new policies to compel Employers to return injured Workers to their former place of employment. These policies apply to all injured Workers no matter what their year of accident, or status in the Labour Market Re-entry Program. Penalties are one year's benefits, plus LMR costs, anywhere from $20,000.00-$70,000.00.
Our firm has specialized in the management of Return to Work obligations for 20 years. We can help you come to the most expedient resolution. Return to Work meetings are quasi judicial proceedings where determinations are made with many thousands of dollars of potential liability at stake."tab2
If you are having problems with the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), you should call RICHARD A. FINK!
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Workers Comp, WSIB, WSIAT, (OHSA) Occupational Health and Safety and Canada Pension Plan (CPP) Appeals for all types of benefits including:
Every employer and employee wants to maintain a safe and healthy workplace. Employers, managers, supervisors, and ordinary workers have legal obligations under the Occupational Health and Safety Act (“OHSA”) to do just that.
The OHSA has three basic aims:
* It sets out the legal duties of everyone in the workplace with respect to safety;
* It establishes requirements to deal with workplace hazards; and
* It creates an enforcement regime to ensure compliance with its rules and regulations.
Responsibilities of the Workplace Parties in Work Reintegration
The workplace parties (workers and employers) are required to co-operate in the return to work reintegration (WR) process.
When certain conditions are met, employers may have, in addition to their obligations to co-operate in the WR process, an obligation to re-employ an injured worker who has been unable to work as a result of the work-related injury/disease.
The focus of the workplace parties’ WR activities is to work together to return the worker to the pre-injury job (with accommodation where required). Ideally, the worker will return to the pre-injury work.
Disputes over job suitability are not acts of non-operation, nor is non-co-operation meant to apply to workers who raise a health and safety concern under the Occupational Health and Safety Act or the Canada Labour Code.
For early and safe RTW activities, if the non-co-operation continues beyond the 14th calendar day following the date the written notice comes into effect, the WSIB suspends the worker’s wage loss benefits.
Workers who are hired one year or more before the date of injury are considered to be continuously employed, unless the year was interrupted by a work cessation intended by the worker or the employer to break the employment relationship.
Generally, the WSIB finds that the following types of work cessation do not break the employment relationship:
A. Worker fit for essential duties (without accommodation)—calculating re employment payments
This document replaces 19 02 02 dated July 15, 2011.
This policy was previously published as:
19 02 02 dated December 1, 2010
Document 19 02 02 dated December 1, 2010 replaced 19 02 03 dated October 12, 2004, 19 04 02 dated October 12, 2004, 19 04 03 dated January 5, 2009, 19 04 08 dated October 12, 2004, and 19 04 09 dated April 7, 2008.