It now takes over two years to get an appeal heard by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal (WSIAT). The Ombudsman tells us, in his most recent annual report, that he’s considering a systemic investigation of the problem. There has already been some action behind the scenes:

Senior Ombudsman staff met with WSIAT’s chair, representatives of the Ministry of Labour, and other government representatives to remind them of the human impact of these delays and urge them to work together to find a solution. The Ombudsman is monitoring the situation and the Ministry’s response to it, to assess whether a systemic investigation is warranted.

In my view, a systemic investigation is warranted, and immediately too. As I’ll explain using the WSIAT’s own data, the current situation—in which the level of delay goes far beyond what is tolerable in any reasonable administrative justice system—is the result of a backlog of appeals that has been steadily increasing for the last four years and, despite the WSIAT’s rather extraordinary public pleas for help (in 2013, 2014 and 2015), there has been no effective response from the government.

Nor is there any reason to believe an effective response will be forthcoming: even as things currently stand, there is little prospect of improvement, and when the impact of the ten-year limit on appointments comes into effect next year, the situation will grow far, far worse. Continue reading →

I’m Antony Singleton, and this is my semi-professional, semi-personal blog about workers’ compensation.  Thanks for visiting–I hope you’ll find something useful and/or helpful here, whether you’re an injured worker or a worker’s representative.

I’m a staff lawyer at IAVGO, a legal clinic funded by Legal Aid Ontario to advise and represent low income and vulnerable injured workers. Previously, I worked at the Office of the Worker Adviser, and before that, for five years at Green & Chercover (a union-side labour law firm now known as Ursel Phillips Fellows Hopkinson).

On November 2, 2015, I’ll be opening my own law office, and my practice will focus on helping workers in Ontario with their WSIB claims and appeals, and their related legal issues (such as human rights and employment law claims).

In the meantime, I’ll set down in this blog some of my thoughts and observations on workers’ compensation law and practice in Ontario and beyond.  My first substantive post is coming soon…