Act Now - The Report of the WCB Legislative Review Panel to the

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3.6.2 System of Financial CompensationThe Acts provide for a system of temporary and permanent financial compensation.The amount of temporary financial compensation is based on a calculation to replace aninjured worker’s wages while they are recovering from a work-related accident ordisease. This is called a wage loss approach.The calculation starts with the worker’s “remuneration” as defined in the Acts (wages,overtime, etc.) to a maximum of the Year’s Maximum Insurable Remuneration (YMIR).Statutory deductions, such as income tax and Canada Pension Plan contributions, aresubtracted from the worker’s remuneration or YMIR, whichever is less, to come to afigure for a worker’s net pay. The temporary financial compensation is 90% of the netpay. The net pay is reduced by 10% because an injured worker will not incur expensesassociated with working, such as, transportation costs to and from the workplace. Thisreduction is standard among other jurisdictions and ranges from 10% to 25% of netincome and, in 2 jurisdictions, 25% of gross income.The amount of permanent financial compensation is based on a calculation that involvesthe percentage of disability or impairment the injured worker will always experience as aresult of the work-related injury or disease. This approach is called an impairment ordisability approach.The calculation starts with the injured worker’s remuneration, to a maximum of theYMIR, less statutory deductions, to arrive at the worker’s net remuneration. Thepercentage by which the worker is impaired or disabled is applied to 90% of the netremuneration and results in the amount of the permanent pension. The WCB usessomething called the Permanent Medical Impairment Guide that describes physical andpsychological impairment and assigns a numerical percentage to these impairments.WCB Legislative Review Panel Report Page 51 of 128December, 2001
Workers’ compensation payments are not income and as such are not subject toterritorial, provincial or federal income taxes. A worker cannot contribute to incomebasedinsurance programs or pensions, such as Employment Insurance or the CanadaPension Plan, because compensation payments are not considered income.Some stakeholders told the Panel that permanent pensions should not be based on thedegree of physical impairment that a worker has experienced as a result of a work-relatedinjury. They argued that in some cases, a physical impairment is not a measure of wageslost. They also pointed out that the workplace has changed and many jobs are not nowbased on physical ability. Other stakeholders told us that even if a worker can continueworking with a physical disability or impairment, the worker has still lost something thatcan never be recaptured and therefore the worker should be financially compensated.The majority of respondents to the Stakeholder Questionnaire thought that a wage lossapproach was better than a physical impairment or disability approach.All jurisdictions use the wage loss approach for temporary financial compensation. Allother jurisdictions but British Columbia use a form of wage loss as the basis for longerterm or permanent financial compensation. Eight jurisdictions include some form offinancial compensation, usually a lump sum, for permanent physical or psychologicalimpairment.With a wage loss approach, there is an ongoing relationship between the injured workerand the WCB. The amount of financial compensation is reviewed at regular intervals todetermine whether the injured worker is capable and able to return to the workforce.Obviously, if an injured worker is earning wages, there is no need to compensate for aloss of wages.The terminology used to describe the wage loss system in other jurisdictions varies.Terms like wage loss, earnings loss, impairment of earnings capacity, loss of earningcapacity, loss of earnings and income replacement indemnity are variously used.WCB Legislative Review Panel Report Page 52 of 128December, 2001
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Accountable…to stakeholdersCompen
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Table Of Contents3.4.3 Employers’
Page 5 and 6: Table Of Contents5.0 A FINAL WORD 1
Page 7 and 8: The Legislative Review Directorate
Page 9 and 10: 3.0 Workers’Compensation Acts3.1
Page 11 and 12: 2.0 General ThemesDuring the course
Page 13 and 14: The Panel has generally adopted the
Page 15 and 16: The Panel did receive positive comm
Page 17 and 18: wanted was to return to work and st
Page 19 and 20: 2. Are there workers in specific in
Page 21 and 22: Panel feels legislation should be p
Page 23 and 24: 3.2 WCB Authority and Accountabilit
Page 25 and 26: WCB Board of Directors may chose to
Page 27 and 28: 3.2.6 Regular Reviews of the Worker
Page 29 and 30: Recommendations: 3.2.8 Liability Pr
Page 31 and 32: Legislation in 2 other jurisdiction
Page 33 and 34: The legislation in other jurisdicti
Page 35 and 36: ones held accountable for a decisio
Page 37 and 38: members may be reappointed to the W
Page 39 and 40: Some suggested that having a compen
Page 41 and 42: Recommendations: 3.4.2 Workers’ A
Page 43 and 44: The WCB Board of Directors made the
Page 45 and 46: esolutions committees, under the au
Page 47 and 48: The Appeals Tribunal must give the
Page 49 and 50: The Panel considered the establishm
Page 51 and 52: Recommendations: 3.5.5 Time Limits
Page 53 and 54: are not familiar with some of the u
Page 55: The Panel was interested in the Ont
Page 59 and 60: 3.6.3 Year’s Maximum Insurable Re
Page 61 and 62: The Acts are very specific in some
Page 63 and 64: 3.6.5 Indexing Compensation by Comm
Page 65 and 66: 2. The legislation should be change
Page 67 and 68: The Panel considered whether the in
Page 69 and 70: The Panel heard from some stakehold
Page 71 and 72: The Acts require any employer, whet
Page 73 and 74: Respondents to the Stakeholder Ques
Page 75 and 76: The Panel agrees. We see prior cons
Page 77 and 78: 3.9.3 Authority to Make Investments
Page 79 and 80: Respondents to the Stakeholder Ques
Page 81 and 82: The duty to accommodate is not an o
Page 83 and 84: payments such as income tax or payr
Page 85 and 86: 3.13 Environmental ChangeThe Acts h
Page 87 and 88: construction permits is a matter of
Page 89 and 90: date sections, reordering the “pa
Page 91 and 92: The Panel has recommended changes t
Page 93 and 94: the WCB when it is contemplating ch
Page 95 and 96: 4. The legislation should be change
Page 97 and 98: The Panel was asked to consider rec
Page 99 and 100: No other jurisdictions regulate wor
Page 101 and 102: 4.2.5 Safety InspectionsSome stakeh
Page 103 and 104: 4.4 Employer Responsibilities4.4.1
Page 105 and 106: The Panel feels that the instrument
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Recommendation: 4.6.2 Consistency w
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others have experience as employers
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While the Panel heard positive comm
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5. Operational versus Legislative I
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3. The legislation should be amende
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3. It is suggested that the first r
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2. The legislation should be change
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Recommendations: 3.5.5 Time Limits
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Recommendation: 3.7.3 Rewarding Saf
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Recommendation: 3.12.4 Employer Rec
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Regulations (see also Recommendatio
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5.0 A Final WordThe Panel has recom
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Glossary and DefinitionsAccident Fu
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Glossary and DefinitionsNet annualr
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WCB Legislative Review Panel Terms
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WCB LEGISLATIVE REVIEW PANELTERMS O
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STAKEHOLDER QUESTIONNAIRE AND SUMMA
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SUMMARY OF ISSUES FROM PUBLIC HEARI
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Key:SUMMARY OF ISSUES FROM PUBLIC H
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Key:SUMMARY OF ISSUES FROM PUBLIC H
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SUMMARY OF FORMAL PRESENTATIONS AND
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SUMMARY OF FORMAL PRESENTATIONS AND
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