The Ontario government has recently tabled amendments to the Workers’ Compensation Reform Act, 1996 (Bill 99). These amendments would
- continue compensation for chronic pain while an independent study on the matter is conducted;
- clarify the return-to-work and labour market re-entry provisions of the Bill;
- require the WCB to pay benefits to the spouses of deceased workers who remarried before 1985; and
- introduce a limited policy audit function for the Workers’ Compensation Appeal Tribunal, enabling it to refer a matter back to the WCB when it believes that Board policy is inconsistent with the law or does not apply to a particular case.
(For previous articles on the subject, see “Jackson report on WCB: Targeting the unfunded liability” on our Publications page and “Emphasis on early return to work in new workers’ compensation legislation” on our What’s New page; for more recent developments, see “New workers’ compensation legislation in effect” on our Publications page; on a related issue, see “Less government involvement, more flexibility urged for Ontario’s health and safety system” on our Publications page.)
For more information on this subject, please contact Colleen Dunlop at (613) 563-7660, Extension 222.