workers’ compensation challenges for the

Katherine Lippel

University of Ottawa

[email protected]

Canada Research Chair in Occupational Health and Safety Law

Workers’ compensation challenges for the

mobile workforce:

policy and practice in Canadian jurisdictions

Work Wellness and Disability Prevention Institute Webinar

May 30th, 2019

www.onthemovepartnership.ca

Policy and practice in return to work after work injury for the

precariously employed or geographically mobile workforce: a four

province study (SSHRC 895-2018-4009)

Now: SSHRC 890-2016-3026; CIHR HPW-146002

http://www.onthemovepartnership.ca/


Outline

Targeted geographically mobile workforce

Methods

Workers’ compensation frameworks in Canada

Challenges to regulatory effectiveness

Challenges across the spectrum:

Commuting accidents

Challenges related to distance

Challenges specific to inter-provincial mobility

Challenges specific to international migrants

Conclusions



The geographically mobile workforce

Commuting between clients on a daily basis

Short term commute (+-3 hours/day)

Long commute within province

Long commute to another province

International commutes Temporary foreign

workers

Canadian workers working in another country temporarily

Double mobility Travelling to access ship,

plane, truck, bus

Mobile workplaces



Poll question 1

How are you, if at all, connected to mobile work ?

select all that apply

I am a mobile worker

I employ mobile workers

I manage mobile workers

I advise mobile workers

I provide care for mobile workers



Methods

Classic legal analysis in 6 provinces

BC

Alberta

Ontario

Québec

Nova Scotia

Newfoundland and Labrador

Key informant interviews (2015-2018)

20 interviews in 5 provinces

47 people Regulators (OHS/WC)

Representatives of employers and unions

Legal counsel

NGOs

Some regulators preferred to answer in writing



Methods: RTW study

Classic legal analysis of

workers’

compensation, OHS

and human rights law:

Alberta

Newfoundland &

Labrador

Quebec

Ontario

Interviews with key

informants and workers

in those provinces



Regulatory frameworks X 13 + 1

Workers’ compensation

“no-fault” systems funded

by employers

Employers protected from

law suits by workers

Administered by public

workers’ compensation boards

in all Canadian provinces

Coverage for injury “arising

out of and in the course of

employment”

Commuting accidents?

Accidents while on a

mission for the employer?

Injury while in employer

provided housing

…



Poll question 2

Do you have experience with workers’ compensation

related to mobile work?

Yes

No



Challenges for regulatory effectiveness

Vulnerabilities specific

to each category of the

geographically mobile

workforce and within

categories

Eg. Temporary foreign

workers: ‘deportability’

Eg. Gold collar vs blue

collar mobile workers

WC

Coverage

Benefits

Rehabilitation

Access to Justice



Fuzzy rules on coverage:

home care workers

Travelling from home to

first client or home

from last client

Not covered

Travelling between

clients

Depends on province

Depends on contract

Depends on invisible

rules…



Protections in work-camp facilities? Maybe, maybe not

• Workers’ compensation if injured in a work camp or hotel? Fuzzy boundaries



Challenges of interprovincial Mobility

Jurisdictional issues

Which workers’ compensation board will compensate? Different rights…

Different procedures

Who is the employer?

Which exposures “count” in determining occupational disease claims?

How reliable are compensation board statistics if we want to track mobile workers?

N. Cherry, J-M. Galarneau, M. Haan, K. Lippel,

«Work injuries in internal migrants to Alberta, Canada. Do Workers' Compensation records provide an unbiased estimate of risk?, (2019) American Journal of Industrial Medicine, DOI:

10.1002/ajim.22981



Challenges of interprovincial Mobility

Distance issues

What if the worker wants to go home while healing

from the injury?

No longer available for modified work

No longer available for medical exams requested by the

employer or the compensation board

What if the hazards are related to employer-provided

housing in a remote workplace?



Problems faced by international

migrants


uOttawa.ca

Obstacles attributable to vulnerability

Concept of deportability and its consequences Fear of exercising rights/claims

Basok et al, 2013

Lack of information on rights, deadlines and procedures (language…but not just language)

Difficulties in accessing medical services in Canada

Misinformed Canadian doctors with regard to workers’ compensation in general, and workers’ compensation eligibility of TFW

uOttawa.ca

Obstacles attributable to distance:

medical reports after worker leaves

Compensation boards rely on medical

reports to manage claims but…which

doctors « count»?

Debates as to eligibility for benefits if the

employer cannot get a second medical

opinion from the doctor of its choice


Calculation of benefits: deeming

Canadian workers’ compensation systems are based on a wage loss system.

Salary replacement indemnity after injury has healed is based on residual earning capacity: (Pre-injury earning capacity – post-injury earning

capacity= weekly benefit paid until pre-injury earning capacity restored).

Earning capacity in which labour market?

Québec: Gmzun et Cirque du Soleil, 2015 QCCLP 1312

Alberta: Policy retains Alberta labour market

Ontario: 2017 WSIAT 2962



Policy recommendations:

Workers compensation

Targets

Provincial regulators

Federal regulator

Government employees

compensation act

Employers

Unions

Jurisdictional problems

Coverage

Fuzzy boundaries

Occupational disease

Determination of

Benefits

Modified work

Rehabilitation

Access to justice



Mobility and effectiveness of WC

Challenges for WC:

Invisibility: Under-reporting, quitting job or dropping claim

Increased complexity

Challenges for RTW: To which labour market are we expecting out-of-province/country

workers to return?

Early return to work provisions apply to this workforce with difficulty Subcontractors are expected to supply fully fit workers

Workers usually on rotation may be expected to accept modified work assignments that limit their ability to go home

Visa restrictions may prevent appropriate application of early return to work provisions for TFW



OTM Policy Brief on WC

The brief can be found here on the On the Move site:

http://www.onthemovepartnership.ca/wp-

content/uploads/2019/06/Policy-Brief-Workers-

Compensation.pdf


http://www.onthemovepartnership.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Policy-Brief-Workers-Compensation.pdf


The On the Move Partnership is a project of the Safetynet Centre for Occupational Health &

Safety Research at Memorial University. It is supported by the Social Sciences and

Humanities Research Council through its Partnership Grants funding opportunity (Appl ID

895-2011-1019), Innovate NL, CFI, and multiple universities and community partners.


Return-to-work policy and practice challenges for injured mobile workers

Dana Howse, Nicola Cherry, Whitney Haynes, Katherine Lippel, Ellen MacEachen, Barbara Neis, Sonja Senthanar

Work Wellness and Disability Prevention Institute Webinar

May 30th, 2019

What are return to work (RTW) experiences of workers

who live in one place, and work, get injured, file for

compensation, and participate in RTW in another?

Poll question 3

If applicable, in what role do you have experience with return to work of mobile workers?

• an injured worker

• a supervisor or human resource manager

• a return to work professional

• a health care provider

• a union representative

Explore, from the perspective of injured mobile workers, the effectiveness of return to work (RTW) policies and programs and any mobility-related challenges.

Data drawn from 13 mobile

workers in four provinces:

In-depth interviews with:

• mobile workers from NL

• precarious workers in

Ontario and Quebec

Semi-structured interviews with

mobile workers in Alberta

Results

Sample (13): 4 women, 9 men

Variation in:

• Age

• Family situations

• Occupations

• Mobility scenarios

• RTW status

• Workers’ compensation claim status

Disrupted routines

I was supposed to go on my next shift with [boyfriend] and I couldn’t go, so we weren’t able to see each other for a month because after that we’re alternating shifts. Like his plane would fly out and my plane would fly in sort of thing.

- Alice, ON, forestry, back injury

Disrupted Routines

…Like I was pretty well stranded, I could get a ride there and then be told that I would have to wait eight hours to come home and I am only supposed to do two hours work.

- Jason, ON, temp, back injury

Extended absence from home

My case worker said: “He worked here, he got hurt here, he can get treated here.” I flew back and forth for treatment 5 times before the surgery.

- male, AB worker from Atlantic Canada, back injury

I would have liked to heal at home. My father died 3 months after. I could have spent the winter with him.

- male, AB worker from Atlantic Canada, knee injury

Absence of social support

…Didn’t want to stay in a hotel alone. Wanted to be around family…Case manager was horrendous. Said we didn’t have the proper medical facilities in [home province]. They wanted to deal with their doctors.

- male, AB worker from Atlantic Canada, head injury

And I was very much alone because I had moved from [home town] so my parents weren’t accessible… You’re in a new province, you’ve never been in before, you feel alone, isolated and, yeah, you have to make ends meet, you have to cut back.

- female, NS, restaurant server, back injury

Extensive travel for family

My wife would take me to all my doctor appointments and, if I had to go to St. John’s for an appointment I would have to stay over night.

They sent me to St. John’s for five weeks to another program, they paid for it all, they put me in a hotel, my wife and I.

- male, NL, electrician, hip injury

After the surgery in Alberta my wife came to Calgary as a caregiver for 3 weeks, then I flew home.

- male, AB worker from Atlantic Canada, back injury

Financial hardship

I got a local therapist and paid for it on my own…Going through my savings, feeling guilty. Paying for it myself. Taking it away from my family.

- male, AB worker from Atlantic Canada, head injury

I have kids that come and see me on the weekends and stuff but, lately I don’t encourage them to come because I can’t afford to feed them you know, and I can’t afford to go get them.

- Jason, ON, temp worker, back injury

Conclusions

Injured mobile workers experience unique

RTW challenges:

• Impacts of work mobility amplified

• RTW adds new and different mobility

Questions or comments?

[email protected]

With thanks to the research participants and funders

SSHRC grant 890-2016-3026; CIHR grant HPW-146002 : Healthy &

Productive Work Programme

mailto:[email protected]

workers’ compensation challenges for the

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