WCB has paid $600 million to employers since 2019

(Winnipeg) – The Manitoba Federation of Labour (MFL) is calling on the provincial government to legislate an end to the Workers Compensation Board’s (WCB) annual surplus payouts to employers until several concerning workplace health and safety trends are reversed, MFL president Kevin Rebeck said today.

“The WCB has been paying out annual surpluses to employers since 2019, but since then Manitoba has had the highest workplace injury rate in the country, we have experienced an explosion of workers facing violence on the job and 128 Manitobans have died because of work,” said Rebeck. “This surplus scheme isn’t making workplaces any safer for Manitobans, and there is a lot of evidence that workplace health and safety has gotten worse since it was created.”

Rebeck noted that Manitoba’s WCB premiums are already the lowest in the country and questioned why WCB is choosing to distribute $90 million in rebates to employers when there are very clear needs for the WCB to do a lot more than it currently is in preventing workplace injuries and deaths. The WCB has distributed over $600 million in employer rebates since 2019.

Prior to 2019, workplace injuries had been trending down, but that trend has now reversed. Workplace injuries have increased by 4% over the same period in which WCB has been sending these windfall payments to employers. In fact, Manitoba’s injury rate has been the highest of any province every year since 2019, according to data compiled by the Association of Workers Compensation Boards of Canada. Manitoba workers have faced a 50 per cent increase in workplace violence in that same timeframe, especially pronounced for workers in sectors like health care, retail, cannabis, emergency response, public transit, education and security.

Rebeck added that many workers feel that their mental health is unsupported in the workplace, and many workers who suffer mental health injuries at work continue to fall through the cracks of WCB coverage.

“To add insult to injury, employers receive this surplus payout regardless of their safety record,” said Rebeck. “This means that the employers whose workplaces saw workers die on the job last year will receive the same level of payout as employers who take workplace health and safety more seriously. I don’t think Manitobans think that’s right. It is time for the government to put an end to this surplus scheme and refocus the WCB on making workplaces safer and healthier.”

The MFL is calling on the provincial government to legislate an end to this WCB surplus payout as part of the current provincial review of the Workers Compensation Act.

The MFL noted that at the same time as announcing another year of employer rebates, the WCB has stated intentions to make improvements to the workers compensation system, including a future strategy to prevent psychological injuries. “New investments across the WCB system, including to support psychological health, are urgently needed,” said Rebeck. “The fact that Manitoba has the worst injury rate in the country shows that WCB’s current prevention system is broken. We need a new approach to prevention to drive down Manitoba’s injury rate.”