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Author Topic: I have a dream
Kindred
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posted 21 May 2003 03:16 PM      Profile for Kindred     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
What if employers across Canada refused to pay their WCB premiums until WCB agreed to fullfill its mandate to provide benefits for injured and disabled workers?
From: British Columbia | Registered: Nov 2002  |  IP: Logged
Trisha
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posted 21 May 2003 05:27 PM      Profile for Trisha     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
People who are injured on the job would end up on the street a lot sooner. Unfortunately, something like this will simply not work.
From: Thunder Bay, Ontario | Registered: Apr 2001  |  IP: Logged
Doug
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posted 21 May 2003 06:57 PM      Profile for Doug   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Besides, why would employers do that? If benefits are paid more often and in greater amounts, their premiums must rise.
From: Toronto, Canada | Registered: Apr 2001  |  IP: Logged
kuba walda
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posted 21 May 2003 07:32 PM      Profile for kuba walda        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
In principal I agree that when employees are suppoose to pay into WCB plans they should, I don't think this will work. Basically, the employer would be breaking the law, and the government would just tell the employer to cough up -- OR ELSE. It was much better in BC when the NDP was in -- the liberals don't care.
From: the garden | Registered: Sep 2002  |  IP: Logged
Timebandit
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posted 21 May 2003 07:59 PM      Profile for Timebandit     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
...until WCB agreed to fullfill its mandate to provide benefits for injured and disabled workers?

In the vast majority of cases, they do.


From: Urban prairie. | Registered: Sep 2001  |  IP: Logged
TommyPaineatWork
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posted 22 May 2003 02:01 AM      Profile for TommyPaineatWork     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
As long as the WCB keeps fulfilling it's mandate to protect employer's from injured employee law suits, I doubt they'll care too much about the other end of things.

I'm not sure where the fund is now in Ontario, but back when Rae took office, the amount of unfunded liabilities about equaled employer premium arrears.


From: London | Registered: Aug 2002  |  IP: Logged
Timebandit
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posted 22 May 2003 02:06 AM      Profile for Timebandit     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Y'know, I don't think that's fair, Tommy. When I was working as a claims adjudicator and case manager, I rarely knew what the financial position of the Board was. It was my job to make decisions based on the legislation and the merits of the claim. I took heat from employers in some instances, same as I took heat from employees in some instances.

If there was any conspiracy to shaft workers' claiming rightful benefits, nobody let me in on the game.

[ 22 May 2003: Message edited by: Zoot Capri ]


From: Urban prairie. | Registered: Sep 2001  |  IP: Logged
TommyPaineatWork
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posted 22 May 2003 02:24 AM      Profile for TommyPaineatWork     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I wasn't attacking adjudicators, Zoot, and I don't see where anyone was.

Problems between injured workers and WCB are, in my experience, systemic and not due to adjudicators/case workers.


From: London | Registered: Aug 2002  |  IP: Logged
Timebandit
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posted 22 May 2003 02:28 AM      Profile for Timebandit     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
How else would unfunded liabilities equal employer arrears? It sounds like you're implying it was intentional. And for that to be the case, the adjudicators would have to be in on it.
From: Urban prairie. | Registered: Sep 2001  |  IP: Logged
TommyPaineatWork
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posted 22 May 2003 02:41 AM      Profile for TommyPaineatWork     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Maybe my phraseology is wrong.


By "unfunded liabilities", I meant money that has been paid out to injured workers, beyond the amount collected in premiums.

It would indicate, if anything, that adjudicators were doing what they were supposed to be doing, but that the government of the day was allowing employers to slide on premiums.

[ 22 May 2003: Message edited by: TommyPaineatWork ]


From: London | Registered: Aug 2002  |  IP: Logged
Kindred
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posted 22 May 2003 06:56 AM      Profile for Kindred     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
It was my job to make decisions based on the legislation and the merits of the claim
Thats the mandate, unfortunately anyone who is in a union management role or who has ever had dealings with WCB can tell you that it doesnt happen that way.

This statement is so false when adjuticators ignore or over ride doctors findings, threaten, harass and lie to claimants. There is nothing fair about WCB - if it was fullfilling its mandates there wouldnt be Royal Commission Inquiries into the way it is run.

Maybe if the fat cat salaries were cut back due to lack of funding things would change, I dont know. I just think a system that doesnt allow an injured worker to sue his employere for negligence and doesnt provide benefits through WCB either is pretty archaic..


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Timebandit
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posted 22 May 2003 11:44 AM      Profile for Timebandit     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Oh, man, that is so mental I don't know where to begin...

Yes, it was my job, and I did it for 5 years. Everybody thinks they have a valid claim. Crap, I got claims for heavy period cramps, irritible bowel syndrome, you name it. I've had clients refuse to attend the physio their doctors prescribed for them. Not that this was the majority of clients -- they were vastly the minority, but took up the majority of my time. Granted, the system could use an overhaul. It's byzantine and in some cases arbitrary. But to say that WCB doesn't fulfill its mandate in the majority of cases is not true.

If there was a medical opinion on file that didn't jive, I couldn't override it. I had to send it to be reviewed by another doctor. Could be an in-house one, or an outside specialist. If the medical all lined up, no problem. And I don't buy that adjudicators harrass or lie to their clients. Maybe one or two bad apples, but don't make it out that the whole barrel is rotten.

And fat cat salaries?! Get real. I wonder how much you'd need to get screeched at by both employers and workers every time you made a decision somebody didn't like. Because most of the time, somebody isn't happy. I've been sworn at, threatened, had my family threatened. I also carried a load of about 100 open cases at a time. And my salary was good, but didn't approach the status of "fat cat".

I think you're lacking in perspective.

[ 22 May 2003: Message edited by: Zoot Capri ]


From: Urban prairie. | Registered: Sep 2001  |  IP: Logged
Kindred
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posted 22 May 2003 04:01 PM      Profile for Kindred     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
You tell me then, the MRP and you know what that is says someone is unable to work, the WCB doctor agrees, the WCB psychologist says this worker is NOY malingering but is a genuine person and this person still is denied benefits?

What about the man who is working as a garbabge man and has a container fall on him breaking almost every one in his body and WCB says he can still work because he has movement in ONE arm.

What about the single mother who is permanently disabled and told to "forget about WCB and snag a man to support her instead"?

Or another woman who is told she is "sitting on a fortune and hasnt explored all her "options" for supporting herself"?

Dont call me mental - if you want to go on the internet and take a look at the thousands and thousands of people who have legitimate claims that have been denied.

To try to tell anyone that the lousy compensation paid by WCB is preferable for most people than working really does confirm in my mind that you no doubt did work for WCB.

You have the same ignorance and need to insult people and call them mental that seems to be a requirement for WCB employees.

WHY was there a Royal Commission Inquiry? WHY did the inquiry find that WCB was not fullfilling its mandate to workers?
http://www.ciwa.ca/eng/newsletters/su99prvupdate.htm
EXCUSES: operating on the premise that workers are fundamentally lazy and need to be pushed back to work/off compensation violates the principles of "to be paid as long as the disability lasts" and "not to be adversarial."

13. NOT COMPENSATED: failing to compensate injured workers for "non-wage" benefits lost after injury (i.e., company pension, drug and dental family plans, life insurance, RRSP contributions), as well as general pain and suffering, violates the principles of "as long as there is disability," "employers pay," and "non-burden to the family and society."

14. OTHER: in cases where survivors or death benefits are lacking, the principle of employers paying into the system is violated. The worker's lost wages are also not compensated to the surviving family members: a portion could be beneficial in at least covering burial costs, etc.

http://www.ciwa.ca/eng/newsletters/w99violate.htm

quote:
One of the biggest difficulties that injured workers face with the Workers' Compensation system is the level of benefits that are given to people with permanent disabilities. Injured workers with permanent disabilities are seriously undercompensated both under the current FEL/NEL system and the pre-bill 162 pension system.

Under the old pension system, only the most serious injuries tended to attract high pensions; bilateral blindness would attract a 100% pension and limb amputations also attracted very high percentage pensions. However for the bulk of the disabilities that injured workers tended to get, the pension awards were totally inadequate. People with low back disabilities would get a pension based on a 30% benchmark for a totally immobile low back. Knee disabilities would be compensated based on a 25% reference for a totally immobile knee. Similarly the maximum elbow award was 20% and the maximum wrist award would be 12.5%.1 People with moderate psychotraumatic disabilities would receive between 15% and 25%.2

For many permanently disabled injured workers, these injuries were career ending. This was especially true amongst workers who were either unskilled, uneducated, older or immigrant workers. These workers would face poverty because their permanent disability awards did not reflect the workers long term loss of earnings.

Bill 162 has made this bad situation worse. Payments to workers who are permanently disabled are now based on what the Board estimated that injured workers future loss of earnings to be. This permits the Board to deem a worker to be earning money from employment that the worker does not have; if after one year of searching for employment, that worker still remains unemployed, then the worker is faced with the prospect of living off of a totally inadequate Future Economic Loss award



http://www.canoshweb.org/odp/html/MAR1993B.htm

quote:
would be very surprised, even astonished to find someone, anyone, who sincerely believes that this country's current patchwork system of programmed effectively responds to the needs of people who are affected by injury, illness and death.......Increasingly workers' compensation cases and appeals are adversarial contests between injured workers and employers or employers and the Board--arguing about the role which can be assigned to the work or the workplace in the causation of an individual condition.

In my experience even when workers win in this system they often still lose. By the time a decision is rendered, both the financial and psychological costs of the battle have extracted an enormous toll from these workers which is added onto the effects of the original injury. They have won the battle for compensation but not the war. Their desire to be a productive, working member of the community too often has been taken from them.

When they lose, more often than not, if their disability is permanent, they are impoverished.


Ask ANY union rep anywhere whether WCB is a viable, responsible solution for injured workers and you will get the same answer from everyone - NO.


From: British Columbia | Registered: Nov 2002  |  IP: Logged
Kindred
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posted 22 May 2003 04:18 PM      Profile for Kindred     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Did you know?

It is legal in British Columbia for a adjudicator to enter false evidence into your file.

Its is legal for adjudicators to overrule Medical Doctors opinion on a patient.

It is legal in British Columbia for WCB doctors to submit fraudulent information into your file.

There is no financial obligation on the part of WCB to compensate workers who suffer major financial losses after proving they should never have been denied benefits.

The WCB saves millions of dollars by deferring what its real obligation is by using these fraudulent methods to deny benefits to disabled workers.

Here is a quote that says it all.

Justice L.D. MacLean of Court of Queen's Bench: "This is not a level playing field, it is not fair and it offends the basic principles of natural justice... It (WCB) is a board set up to protect the employers. It accomplishes this purpose by restricting the rights of workers."


From: British Columbia | Registered: Nov 2002  |  IP: Logged
verbatim
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posted 22 May 2003 04:45 PM      Profile for verbatim   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Kindred:
Did you know?

It is legal in British Columbia for a adjudicator to enter false evidence into your file.

Its is legal for adjudicators to overrule Medical Doctors opinion on a patient.

It is legal in British Columbia for WCB doctors to submit fraudulent information into your file.

There is no financial obligation on the part of WCB to compensate workers who suffer major financial losses after proving they should never have been denied benefits.

The WCB saves millions of dollars by deferring what its real obligation is by using these fraudulent methods to deny benefits to disabled workers.


Kindred, your comments are very interesting, but could you please expand on these statements? I don't understand what some of them mean, and others seem absolutley impossible (i.e. it is legal to lie).

From: The People's Republic of Cook Street | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
sophrosyne
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posted 22 May 2003 05:14 PM      Profile for sophrosyne     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Zoot Capri, I've had extensive dealings with the WCB. Their unspoken policy is to jerk people around until they lose hope and give up (and the larger the potential $$$ the greater the difficulty in cashing in on the claim), in that respect they have learned reams from the insurance industry.

Furthermore I've spoken with adjucators who had absolutely no illusions about what was going on or what their job duties really entailed.

For you to say what you're saying... well to me you're basically saying that you were employed by the sunshine-and-lollipops version of the WCB, not the one with which I am acquainted.

I am much more in agreement with Kindred's deservedly negative opinion of the WCB.


From: British Columbia | Registered: May 2003  |  IP: Logged
Kindred
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posted 22 May 2003 05:20 PM      Profile for Kindred     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
WCB adjuticators can put anything they want to in your file. IE: A WCB doctor and and a Medical Review Panel can submit reports that say a worker is legitimately disabled - and an adjuticator can then turn around and put a report in your file saying something like:

"Having reviewed the findings of the Medical Review Panel and Doctor so-andso it is clear from their comments and reports that this worker is malingering and choosing not to work from an over exagerated sense of entitlement, therefore I reccomend terminating benefits to this worker".

Further more a doctor or specialist can submit a report to WCB saying that a workers injuries are unstable or whatever and that for this worker to be forced to return to work could result in further damage and possible paralysis and the Adjusticator or Rehab officer can just plain out and out say he or she doesnt agree and terminate benefits for that worker.

There is NOTHING you can do to have such reports removed or corrected in your file. I have reports in my file stating everyting from I am suffering side effects from a hysterectomy - never had one, thank you very much - to I have a history of psychological problems to I was sexually abused as a child and never got over it -to you name it ..... all lies and all part of the permanent record now. The only psychologist I have ever seen is the WCB one and he supported my claim.

A ceiling fell on me while at work, and in the words of the ER doctor "Lady you been smucked"
Thats when all my fun started -- I received benefits for 3 months after waiting 3 months for them to do anything, then they cut me off.

I asked for an MRP and was denied it for 2 years, I finally contacted Dale Goldhawk on CTV and he went after them, there is a memo in my file stating "Now CTV is after us, GIVE THIS WOMAN HER MRP". During this time I received NO benefits from WCB -

In my own case I "won" my Medical Review Panel, made up of 3 Neurologists, one who was chosen by WCB - their findings were that I was permanently and severely limited in my abilites, unable to return to any viable employment, reccomended an MRI because there WAS a spinal mylopathy that could result in partial or full paralysis. I was denied the MRS by WCB.

WCB regulations say that an MRP is legal and binding on ALL parties including WCB itself. It may be that they can simply choose not to act on the report, and bury it.

Files are not on computers but are hard copy old fashioned paper files, therefore some reports can just -- ooopss-- go missing - fell out of a file and get swept out with the trash - but of course the missing report never existed in the first place --

The WCB doctor has stated I am not able to work fulltime and can POSSIBLY work part time, only if I dont have to sit, dont have to stand, dont have to use repetitive arm movements, do anything that requires lifting my arms above shoulder level, dont have to lift anything, can take days off as needed, work at my own pace, set my own hours, take frequent breaks while at work -

The WCB Psychologist's report said I was a genuine person suffering from a legitimate and compensable claim, showed no signs or indication of malingering and was in fact doing my best to manage my disabilities and maintain a positive attitude in the face of the chronic pain and accident related disablity ..

FOUR detectives submitted reports that after following me for periods up to six months and at huge expense to WCB - money I could use myself - there was absolutely nothing they could report that would indicate my disability was not real. In fact one of them came and knocked at my door one winter, said "Damn its cold out there, do you by any chance have a hot cup of coffee?" Told me he was submitting a report supporting me and offered to shovel the snow from my driveway and sidewalk before he left -- he was really disgusted with WCB at that point and said "I dont know why they dont just get it and stop this bullshit."

My adjusticator submitted the report to my file that it is evident after reading these reports that I am choosing not to work, there is nothing to indicate I have any barriers to returning to work and presented to all concerned as malingering and having an exagerated sense of entitlement and that due to the fact that my husband (non-existent) is making in excess of $200,000.00 a year felt no need to return to work.

The unfairness is that anyone in WCB reviewing the file tends to read ONLY the reports and memos submitted by other WCB employees. My own file is about four feet tall now and NO ONE has the time to wade through it anymore -- they bury you with bullshit, lies and paperwork that creates a maze no one can begin to fgiure out anymore.

The worker can send in a letter disputing such and such a memo and it is supposed to be attached to said memo or report, it never is -- it is just added to the four foot mountain --

Believe me its a nightmare. And in the end they say well you can still use your toes and your feet and your arms and shoulders and neck and upper back only make up about 20% of your total body so we will give you a permanent disability based on 20% of what you were making in the 1980's at the time of the accident -- The fact that wages have gone up significantly since then, or the fact that a worker would have advanced in their field over 20 some years has NO bearing on their decision for compensation.

I cant point you to where it says in the WCB act that they can lie -- it goes without saying that it isnt there - but from my own personal experience this is how it works.

In addition I have a Supreme Court Decision saying I am not able to work at any form of viable employment that will adeuqately support me and have a legitimate compensable injury --

WCB has ignored that too, as my Adjuticator said "So what? who cares? It doesnt change my mind, you are just lazy --". Dozens of doctors, even their own, are wrong and this man with a grade 12 education knows better than any of them.

THAT is the reality of WCB. That is why there was a Royal Commission Inquiry and btw WCB hasnt followed up on any of the reccomendations --


From: British Columbia | Registered: Nov 2002  |  IP: Logged
Kindred
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posted 22 May 2003 05:30 PM      Profile for Kindred     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I would give anything in this world to be able to ski again, to rock climb, to fly a plane without having to take along another pilot to land it for me, to be able to run, sail, play baseball, tennis, dance all night, sit through a movie in a theater, mow a lawn, paint a picture, (nerve damage in my hands make them jerk, loss of fine motor skills, you should see me try to get change out of my purse to pay for something)add numbers in my head, be able to fill out a form without getting confused, still have a successful career, investments, a retirement plan, RRSPs, and a life like I once did.

ANYTHING and to suggest that receiving a paltry pension cheuqe every month for $444.00 in ANY way compensates for or is more desirable than what I had and was capable of BEFORE my accident is just too ignorant for words.

Not to mention what my children went through when at ages 8 and 9 WCB said they could do the housework, cook and provide home care for me and there was no need to provide a housekeeper while I was still flat on my back, unable to lift my arms or swallow solid food without choking on it. My children lost their childhood, no I stand corrected it was STOLEN from them - by WCB.


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Kindred
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posted 22 May 2003 05:33 PM      Profile for Kindred     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Sorry for all the posts but I had to say this, it reached a point where my first adjuticator phoned and apologized to me and said he was forced to say the things he did, do the things he did and he was putting a report in my file that I deserved FULL benefits - He was fired the next day and the report never showed up in my file. WCB denied it ever existed.
From: British Columbia | Registered: Nov 2002  |  IP: Logged
sophrosyne
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posted 22 May 2003 06:34 PM      Profile for sophrosyne     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I totally have sympathy for you, Kindred, if that means anything. It's sad to realize that often those who have walked a mile in your moccasins are the only ones to understand and truly empathize. After all, my husband has to keep proving to Revenue Canada that he does not have a permanent medical disability: FYI, his right arm is missing.

Many people do not realize that the rules, more often than not, are more for show than for following. The laws are only as good as the people who enforce them; unfortunately it seems more often than not these people are interested more in doing whatever it takes to personally profit, even if it means on stepping on somebody else to do it. There are far too many people who look at the easy cases, the shining examples the ministry would like you to believe and hear about: the sad and oftentimes brutal reality is what really awaits those most in need.

The sick, the disabled, the elderly, the infirm, children, all of these are having their rights eroded and downtrodden, why, because they are not productive enough, don't make enough $$$, and that is a lethal sin in our detestable money-is-our-deity capitalist society.

What would sound it like if I told you all how I really feel, I know...


From: British Columbia | Registered: May 2003  |  IP: Logged
Kindred
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posted 22 May 2003 07:07 PM      Profile for Kindred     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I know how that feels, my relationship with my twin brother and my sister is non-existent. They both believe if I was "really" disabled then WCB would be paying me a viable pension and seeing that they arent - well to them that says it all.

My children have no memory of the "real" me at all, the trauma and the hardships they went through have wiped out all the memories of going hiking every weekend, climbing ever waterfall within driving distance, all the times I took them skiing, flying - the baseball games we played on the empty lot next door to us. The times we went camping and horse back riding. All those memories are gone. The only thing my son remembers is me making him fight his first fight and coaching his baseball team.

The memories they do have is having to eat kraft dinner four times a week, having to mow the lawn, do the laundry, miss out on school trips, miss out on skiing and tennis and concerts, never having the "in" clothes, or boots in the winter, being yelled at for turning up the heat in the winter because we couldnt afford it. They remember feeling marginalized and on the outside at school. My son went from As and Bs to Cs and Ds in school, my daughter suffered severe separation anxiety and couldnt let me out of her sight. She wouldnt sleep over at her friends houses anymore after my accident.

For everything we have been through it is what my children lost that makes me the angriest.


From: British Columbia | Registered: Nov 2002  |  IP: Logged
Kindred
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posted 22 May 2003 09:04 PM      Profile for Kindred     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Despite the fact that the odds have been stacked in favour of employers there are employers out there who do support their workers and do everything they can to support WCB claims for them. My accident employer has done everything she can to try to force WCB to do more for me.

I keep thinking there has to be something that can be done. The premiums employers pay keep going up all the time and the money isnt being returned in compensation.

In Richmond some employees are allowed to start work at 6:00 a.m. 2 1/2 hours before the switchboard opens and they leave at 2:00 p.m. thereby reducing the time they are "forced" to deal with claimants, and adding to the length of time claimants face before any resolution is reached.


From: British Columbia | Registered: Nov 2002  |  IP: Logged
TommyPaineatWork
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posted 23 May 2003 12:06 AM      Profile for TommyPaineatWork     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
When I said the problems at the WCB were systemic, this is the kind of thing I was talking about.

Adjudicators are given larger and larger case loads, and not because they are asking for them. The WCB does this, yes, because they know it gums up the system and discourages people from persuing claims.

But that's not the adjudicators fault, and certainly not our Zoot's fault, either.


From: London | Registered: Aug 2002  |  IP: Logged
sophrosyne
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posted 23 May 2003 11:44 AM      Profile for sophrosyne     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Hi Kindred, boy, do I ever grok. I have encountered so many jerks who simply refuse to believe that the system can possibly be unfair or that people are denied what they are entitled to just because some nameless bureaucrat has decided (a)they can get away with denying something to a person because of a perceived lack of power to change this decision, and especially (b) if somehow they can personally profit from this action.

If some judgemental nitwits haven't experienced it directly, or if they don't directly know of somebody who has, they believe that it doesn't seem to happen. ...And these ignorants ridicule and marginalize those with these unfortunate experiences. I actually had one say that our experience consisted of "unsupported claims" and that they wouldn't believe me "just on your say-so." I think you can understand the feeling of outrage and frustration, especially when confronted with an apathetic "well some people fall through the cracks" attitude. ...And understand the uselessness of trying to make somebody see your side of the fence when they won't budge their ass from that comfortable position as armchair critic.

The sad thing is, if just the gov. could bring itself to own up to its responsibilities all the time (instead of just in time for the cameras), it would actually save the gov. money. Think of all the people they could retrain and get back into the workplace. Think of all the people they could help treat and bring back into the world instead of forcing them to become prisoners of their medical conditions.

I think a transparent and accountable policy would help resolve much of the problems at the WCB that I know of. If the adjucators were held responsible for their decisions, ie: they actually had to back them with facts and expert opinions, I think a lot of grief would be saved. I also think that a claimant should be able to demand that their claim be satisfied within a reasonable time, with more serious claims warranting earlier resolution and prioritization.

quote:
But that's not the adjudicators fault

Well, I'm sure not all adjucators are jaded opportunits (and I certainly don't mean to imply that in anyway Zoot is like this), but don't bet the farm on that. I've had more than a few chats in my time with some of these and the lot I met, well their attitudes were neither as professional nor as compassionate as you or I may think they should be.


From: British Columbia | Registered: May 2003  |  IP: Logged
Kindred
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posted 23 May 2003 02:50 PM      Profile for Kindred     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Poverty is discussed a lot on this board I wonder how much of this is created by work place accidents? I think I will try to find those stats somewhere. I have already quoted the stats for the disabled and poverty, unemployment and under employment. Now we need to know what percentage were disabled do to work place accidents.

As for compassionate adjuticators - I dealt with the one in Richmond for about four years before they fired him. After I had my MRP one of the doctors, God love him, Dr. Eisen, came in and told me "I want you to know you have won."

Two days later my adjuticator Robert, phoned me and said "Ha ha you lost, I am sending you a cheque for $1500.00 - you better take it and fuck off because that is all you will ever get from us."

Had Dr. Eisen not told me I might have believed him, I would have believed him - so I said "Ha ha Robert I won, so you fuck off"

Two weeks later I received a cheque for $17,000.00 for retro benefits, and the process for a disability pension began. It was something like 5 years before that was put in place and an amount determined, which I then had to appeal.

Hows that for "adjuticators can lie and do whatever they like" and there is nothing you can do about it??

At one point I had five appeals underway and it became very confusing for me. I began carrying a little tape recorder to all my meetings with them and several of them refused to talk to me because I had it.

I guess they didnt know how to conduct a meeting without saying things that could be used against them if I had proof of the horrid things they were saying - I always set the recorder on the table so they knew I had it.

Once my Rehab officer submitted a memo to file that I had agreed to all sorts of things, however the taped meeting proved none of these things had even been discussed. They played very heavily on my head injury and problems remembering some things so they claimed I said and agreed to a lot of things I didnt.

Its not a matter of being over worked, or too many claims, claims pile up because WCB refuses to deal with them. Adjuticators that do show any compassionate are fired, as the great Robert was when he finally saw the light.

Once when I was in Rehab their physio guy threw a basketball at my head to "prove" I could lift my arms over my shoulder height if I had to - the ball hit me in my face and knocked me flat. He just walked over and picked it up and walked out leaving me lying on the floor stunned. Now THATS compassion.

Another time I said to one of them "I hope you have spies on the residence" because there were a few scammers there who were obvious to all of us, and he said "We would be pretty stupid if we didnt wouldnt we?" They were caught with hidden cameras in the rooms and forced to remove them - so much for privacy while bathing, using the bathroom etc.

WCB is a heinous institution that treats people like crap when they are vulnerable, scared, and desperate. You have to keep in mind the people they are abusing are already suffering from disabling injuries and are especially vulnerable. The majority have no knowledge of what their rights are. Most people believe WCB can be trusted and is there for them.

As for Zoot perhaps he did try to be fair to people and got fired, I am not going to guess what his story is, but given his immediate and insulting response to my post I am thinking I am being too kind in that supposition. He sounds like "one of the indoctrined". "All WCB claimants are lazy, good for nothing low lifes looking for a free ride and trying to scam the system".

The Steel Workers asked me to present my case at the Royal Commission and WCB threatened me that if I did hell would freeze over before I got a penny out of them.

sophrosyne you have my sympathy for being caught in this system which allegedly assists injured and disabled workers.

My advivse to everyone on this board and in the work force is get private disablity insurance because someday you too could get injured at work. Working at a desk job doesnt mean you never will.


From: British Columbia | Registered: Nov 2002  |  IP: Logged
Tommy_Paine
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Babbler # 214

posted 23 May 2003 03:22 PM      Profile for Tommy_Paine     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I would recomend to non-unionized people to find themselves skilled representation when they deal with the WCB.

One of the big problems in not just WCB claims, but in other injury claims outside of WCB is that disease or soft tissue damage gets treated like fraud.

If your injury doesn't show on an x-ray, be prepared for a lot of questions and problems.


From: The Alley, Behind Montgomery's Tavern | Registered: Apr 2001  |  IP: Logged
Rebecca West
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Babbler # 1873

posted 23 May 2003 04:21 PM      Profile for Rebecca West     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
My advivse to everyone on this board and in the work force is get private disablity insurance because someday you too could get injured at work. Working at a desk job doesnt mean you never will.
Some fairly debilitating injuries can be the result of long hours spent sitting at a desk.

From: London , Ontario - homogeneous maximus | Registered: Nov 2001  |  IP: Logged
Mandos
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posted 23 May 2003 04:24 PM      Profile for Mandos   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Zoot's a she. That's the second time this week. I think it's her handle.
From: There, there. | Registered: Jun 2001  |  IP: Logged
verbatim
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 569

posted 23 May 2003 04:45 PM      Profile for verbatim   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I worked at the (BC) WCB for a summer, in the Appeals Division. I provided legal research for the Commissioners. I certainly didn't see any signs of a conspiracy to deny people benefits, but there were definitely political divisions within the commissioners. Most of them were fairly left-wing, and pro-employee.

If there was any criticism I might have for the system, it was that it took WAY too long to process a claim all the way to final appeal. Certainly the time taken was disproportionate to the benefits at stake (WCB fighting to the death over a 0.5% or 1% increase). There did seem to be a lot of second-guessing of medical opinions going on.

Something to keep in mind when discussing legislated schemes like WCB is that they only exist as long as the legislature considers them beneficial. WCB is an employer-funded scheme, and employers have considerably more clout over the way WCB is operated. This is especially the case since BC labour has essentially silenced itself.


From: The People's Republic of Cook Street | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Kindred
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 3285

posted 23 May 2003 05:48 PM      Profile for Kindred     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Canadians are starting to have to beg for justice in one of the richest countries in the world.
- Daphne Dumont, Past President (2001), Canadian Bar Association -

Canada . . . has one of the worst poverty rates of all industrialized countries ....

According to the Canadian Food Bank Association's report of October 16, 2002, the number of Canadian adults and children who must depend on the donations of food from the food banks across the country has doubled since 1989 -- despite Canada's prolonged period of economic boom and prosperity..

"Among the Canadian families and citizens who fear hunger are those who depend on workers' compensation and social welfare (58%).....

POVERTY FACED BY INJURED WORKERS
In Ontario, many injured workers who are unable to work or are unemployable as a result of their workplace injuries or illnesses, must survive on approx. $15,000 per year,or less, loss of employment income (LOE) payment from the compensation board or they must depend on publicly funded welfare. "



http://www.ccriw.com/canada1.html

Alberta WCB stats challenged

quote:
New figures acquired by the Alberta Federation of Labour show that in 1998, work absence due to illness, injury and disability were at their highest level in a decade. This contradicts the Alberta government and WCB claim that Alberta work places are safer than ever. The statistics released by the AFL today suggest that many Alberta workers are getting injured at work but not receiving WCB benefits they deserve.
"WCB has balanced its books by lowering the number of legitimate injured workers who receive compensation

http://www.ciwa.ca/Eng/nalberta.htm

quote:
The modern Canadian workers’ compensation system is rooted in what is commonly known as “the historic compromise” proposed by Sir William R. Meredith, an Ontario judge who conducted an inquiry into workers’ compensation from 1910-13. Meredith proposed the creation of a system in which employers collectively fund the cost of compensating workers for workplace injuries. Workers forfeited their right to sue employers, but gained guaranteed no-fault compensation for injuries whether or not the injury was caused or exacerbated by worker negligence...........The dollar values of permanent impairment awards granted to claimants over the age of 45 are reduced by two per cent for every year that the claimant is over the age of 45.
If the claimant has a pre-existing condition, the WCB may also reduce the award.
According to unpublished statistics provided by WCB staff, 104 permanent impairment awards were granted in 1999. The majority of these awards were for impairments assessed at less than ten per cent, and only nine were for impairments assessed as greater than twenty per cent

http://www.mlpd.mb.ca/reports/html/wwdp/wwdppage6.html#13

How does this rate of compensation for 104 workers a year reflect fair compensation for the ACTUAL number of injured workers? Plain and simply put, it doesnt.

quote:
On a typical working day in Ontario:

One worker dies from a work-related injury or illness
Three workers require amputation
Thirty suffer from permanent disability
Four hundred are injured seriously enough to require time away from work

Ontario Business Report, October 2001.



http://www.ccriw.com/campaign.html

30 workers a day in Ontario suffer a work accident that results in permanent disability, and thats just one province
People have to wake up and realize what is going on and not refuse to believe those injured and disabled workers who are begging for help and support from their co-workers.

The dollar values of permanent impairment awards granted to claimants over the age of 45 are reduced by two per cent for every year that the claimant is over the age of 45.
What is the justification for this?

As I said before anyone who believes WCB provides a safety net for them better wake up and smell the coffee. Next time International Day of Commemeration for Injured Workers and for those killed on the Job get out there in front of the WCB office with a sign - join a rally, DO SOMETHING because it could easily some day be you fighting for your rights and for the rights of your children to NOT be forced into poverty.

The argument that claimants are too lazy to work is pure BS seeing as they were injured ON THE JOB, not sitting at home collecting social assistance.

What makes this whole thing worse is that your typical working person has a family, has a mortgage, has college for his/her kids ahead of them and is in the middle of their most productive years.

Another casualty of the WCB system is your Canada Pension, you reap what you contribute and you DONT contribute when you are unable to work. My Canada Pension will be no more than $125.00 a month because of my accident.


From: British Columbia | Registered: Nov 2002  |  IP: Logged
Tommy_Paine
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 214

posted 24 May 2003 07:51 AM      Profile for Tommy_Paine     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
If there was any criticism I might have for the system, it was that it took WAY too long to process a claim all the way to final appeal.

Of course. But this is no accident, or act of nature. It's deliberate.

We can have as many left wing, pro employee adjudicators or case workers as we like, but as long as the appointee at the top is a toady of business, they have the power to delay and therefore deny justice.

Employers conveniently forget that the WCB was founded not just to protect employees, but fundamentally to protect employers from law suits from injured workers.

Maybe the real key to power here is for an employee to opt out of WCB, and instead take the litigation route.


From: The Alley, Behind Montgomery's Tavern | Registered: Apr 2001  |  IP: Logged
Kindred
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posted 24 May 2003 02:42 PM      Profile for Kindred     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Alberta is one province that is trying to opt out of WCB, the link I provided explains what they are up to, or trying to do. I havent read the whole thing and dont know if it would benefit the worker. I think the idea is employers are paying ever increasing premiums and not seeing the money going where it should be - to the workers. WCB has a huge operating budget, it spends millions on detectives for instance. In most cases that money should have gone to the worker and not to detectives to follow him/her around.

I have personally had four detectives at various times following me around, and it has to be expensive to have someone out there on ONE client for 18 hours every day. And honestly, they arent that good anyhow, I have always spotted them tailing me I have even on occassion "lost them" by ducking in and out of traffic. I have called the police and reported a "lurker" in the school ground across the street.

The ONLY thing WCB ever did for me that I would say thank you, is they sent me to the Pain Management Clinic.

The operators there asked us if we would allow WCB personanle to "observe" group counseling sessions. I was the one who said no way in hell, and the others followed my lead, and I was kicked out. They said I was "in denial" because I wouldnt "admit" I was molested as a child, which is why I was suffering from chronic pain. That was the theory at the time, I dont know if it still is. The real reason I am sure is because I started the "if WCB comes in here we all walk out that door" protest ..

You're right, they delay processing and settlement intentionally hoping they will wear down the claimants and they will just give up and go away. Most whom are injured, in serious pain and disability and arent able to fight for their rights for that reason. Its disgraceful.


From: British Columbia | Registered: Nov 2002  |  IP: Logged
Trisha
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 387

posted 24 May 2003 03:09 PM      Profile for Trisha     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Kindred, I hear you. WCB isn't the only agency that tries to write illnesses off as psychiatric or emotional problems. It's all part of the campaign to try to save government money by making people drop their claims. WCB tries to stall until the person is well again, ODSP tries to stall until people give up or aren't healthy enough to go on trying. It's the policies, not the people doing the job, that are to blame. Workers are taught to assume everybody's faking it just to get free support. All the intake systems are set up to prove this point.

Our government and it's contracted agencies are great at wasting money to "save" money. Just look into almost any program, privatization, contracting out of serices, etc. All are leading in the same direction.


From: Thunder Bay, Ontario | Registered: Apr 2001  |  IP: Logged
Tommy_Paine
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Babbler # 214

posted 25 May 2003 08:24 AM      Profile for Tommy_Paine     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
I havent read the whole thing and dont know if it would benefit the worker.

Likely not.

WCB is a practicle compromise. Previous, most suits by injured workers were not settled in the worker's favour. Employers can afford better lawyers, and of course there's the ever present bias of the court in favour of corporations and institutions as a hurdle.

On the other hand, when workers did win the odd case, it tended to bankrupt the employer, and throw a lot of people out of work.

A lot of labour legislation is a pragmatic compromise like the WCB. Unfortunately, we have arrived at a point where most have forgotten the reasons why we arrived at these arrangements.

A worker opting out of Comp and getting a lawyer might remind them.

When the tories in Ontario threatened to "overhaul" the WCB, Buz Hargrove of the CAW mentioned litigation as a route injured workers might want to take, mostly as a reminder of why we have WCB, not as a preferable alternative to the current system.

------

A nieghbor and co-worker was off work from a back injury. We expected to see a car parked on our street, staking out his house. I looked up the laws concerning private detectives. It seems they have wide latitude when it comes to stalking people.

But that was when my girls were very young. They'd have found out I had a low threshold of tollerance for strangers hanging around in front of my house, but it never came to that.

If they followed him, they were certainly not very obtrusive about it.


From: The Alley, Behind Montgomery's Tavern | Registered: Apr 2001  |  IP: Logged
Kindred
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 3285

posted 25 May 2003 03:05 PM      Profile for Kindred     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I am assuming some detectives are better at their jobs than others are. A favourite ploy in my case was to park in the parking lot at the school and turn the rear view mirror to watch my house - real sneaky. Given that I lived in a burb five miles outside the city, that was a small community in itself and everyone knew everyone. Inevitably one of the fathers on the block would go over and confront them and demand to know what they were doing there.

When I left home they were right behind me, they were either incompetent or made little effort to conceal their activites -

There are people who scam the system, there is no doubt of that. My next door neighbour, to add insult to injury, was a carpenter who was receiving FULL benefits "because he hurt his back so badly he couldnt ever work again."

He used to brag that he did better on WCB because he didnt have to pay income tax. He also built his own house, worked on peoples cars in the huge garage he built, did all his own landscaping, and I would see him running up and down the stairs in perfect health, it made me furious that I had to fight them tooth and nail, while he was "deemed disabled" He was living the "good life". And proud of scamming WCB.

While the detectives had their eyes trained on MY house and following me all of this was going on right under their noses.

But then he was a "man" with a family to support. Women arent taken seriously by WCB and I have had adjuticators tell me that. In addition there is a reverse discrimination in that injured and disabled women are not given any home support services.

If a man is injured and he is single he doesnt need the same degree of support, there is almost always a mother, a woman to help with kids, and feed him. If he is married he has a wife to do the cleaning, and the cooking, and the child care and the laundry, bath him, feed him. Where as most women DONT have this kind of support. IE: My husband walked out and went to his mothers rather than cook dinner for his kids or do any housework.

WCB gives no consideration to the strain put on marriages and relationships when a wife has to provide home support for a husband either. They just dont give a damn.

WCb's response to me was I must have a female family member or friend who would "take up the slack". Given that my parents were pusing 80 and my only sister was a manager in a Govt office, and all my friends were professional women it was hardly logical that they would take time from their own jobs to offer that support.

People dont live in "Petticoat Junction" after all, not these days. The WCB Act is still stuck back in 1910 when it was first introduced, and there were very very few, almost no working women.

The man living next door? WCB paid off his mortgage on his brand new $200,000.00 house that he built himself even though he was a "fully disabled carpenter". BUT a friend of mine still living in the burb - I was forced to sell my house because I couldnt keep up mortgage payments - told me recently WCB finally twigged on the fact that he was scamming. He has to pay back every cent to them. Which is only fair.

I dont fault WCB for checking into people's claims, they have to - but when the evidence is overwhelming in favour of the claimant, an MRP decision, doctors reports, a Supreme Court decision, four detectives reports, letters of support from the accident employer, and a long long history of medical visits, specialists, physiotherapists, a history of numerous attempts to return to work, unemployment, short term employment, employment difficulties - THEN for them to deny benefits is just criminal.

What is needed is a governing body that would review and make WCB accountable for their actions or lack of actions.

To have s system that is accountable to no one, and governs itself is just a formula for failure and bureaucratic bullshit, every cent they pay a worker is money off their next raise, or next "bonus" for keeping claims down.


From: British Columbia | Registered: Nov 2002  |  IP: Logged
al-Qa'bong
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posted 02 June 2003 03:29 AM      Profile for al-Qa'bong   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
*bump*
[just because]

From: Saskatchistan | Registered: Feb 2003  |  IP: Logged

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