Rejects report giving higher scores for providing lower benefits to injured workers.

Governments across Canada should ignore the latest report from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) on workers compensation, said Kevin Rebeck, President of the Manitoba Federation of Labour.

“The whole point of workers compensation is to provide adequate benefits for injured workers,” said Rebeck. “Governments should not take seriously a report that gives better scores to a WCB that does a worse job of helping injured workers.” On December 13, the CFIB released a report, ‘A Small Business Assessment of Workers’ Compensation’, that rates provincial Workers Compensation Boards across Canada. Rebeck noted that higher scores were awarded for:

• providing lower benefit levels for injured workers;
• having fewer workers covered by workers compensation; and
• capping the amount of earnings that can be insured by workers compensation.

“We don’t think Manitobans will agree that workers compensation is better when it provides less compensation to injured workers,” said Rebeck. “Following this report’s recommendations would be a huge step backwards for working families.”

Working people in Manitoba do have concerns about workers compensation but they are very different from the employer complaints put forward by business lobbyists. Workers are more concerned:

• that thousands of Manitoba workers are not covered by workers compensation;
• that the WCB rate setting model encourages employers to suppress claims by injured workers; and
• that the WCB system often pressures injured workers to return to work before they are ready and able.