As we are winding deeper into 2010, many employers are still feeling the effects of 2009 from a compensation perspective. With the economic downturn, many employers had to make difficult employment decisions. Many workers were laid off, companies were downsized or closed altogether. 

The recent decision of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice has overturned an arbitrator’s decision relating to a paramedic’s vision disability. This recent decision addresses the important question of the balance between protecting the human rights of disabled workers, on the one hand, and protecting the health and safety of patients and the public, on the other hand. 

Last February, the Canadian health and safety community saw something it has not seen in a relatively long time (since 2007, to be more precise): a company charged with criminal negligence under Bill C-45 following a workplace death.

One of the biggest pitfalls of workers’ compensation claims is a failure on the part of the employer in the management of those claims.

Most experience rating programs established by workers compensation boards are based on claim cost and claim duration. A failure to manage claims will result in increased costs through increased duration, thus negatively impacting those claims. In addition, a byproduct of not managing a claim is that return to work becomes more difficult as time passes.