INJURY SOLUTIONS
Are Employer Rights Being
Denied by the Saskatchewan
Workers’ Compensation Board?
By Tracy Slywka, Injury Solutions
If you have had any dealing with the Saskatchewan Workers’
Compensation Board (WCB) lately, you may have had a very
frustrating experience. Injury Solutions Canada Inc. has dealt
with an all-time high of frustrated employers. Industry associations
in this province are also experiencing an elevated number of com-plaints
from their membership. So, what exactly is going on? Some
examples of employers’ grievances: they are being denied file cop-ies
for the appeals process, being told they have no right to infor-mation
about their employees and the Return to Work process and
even what duties the employee can and cannot do. Most of the time,
employers are not even getting any correspondence as to what is
happening on certain claims. In some instances, employers are not
even being given restrictions so that they may accommodate their
employee. This is just a small slice of some of the current issues em-ployers
are facing.
If you attend any WCB education sessions, they always reiterate
that employers are equal stakeholders and a valuable member in the
injury prevention and management process. If you were to read the
annual report published by the WCB, you will find employers are ad-dressed
as equal stakeholders. The WCB will tell you that their sur-veys
state employers are satisfied with their overall experience with
the Board, but I am not sure who is being surveyed, as this is not ma-ny
employers’ experience. Employers’ premiums fund the WCB sys-tem,
without their premiums the system could not exist.
One must ask the question: Why are employers “the bad guys” all
of a sudden? The WCB is unfairly discriminating against employers.
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