WSIB staff will manage injured workers’ pathways to work
The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), which called the changes “significant,” said it decided to make the move after hearing from employers and injured workers who need help in returning to work. The province outsourced the work in 1998.
“We will phase out the use of external LMR case managers,” it said in a press release. “Instead, qualified WSIB staff will manage injured workers’ pathways to work.”
What are the changes?
Beginning later this year, the WSIB will integrate the LMR and Return to Work programs into a new Work Reintegration Program. According to the WSIB, the new program will:
•Maintain the relationship between the worker and original employer.
•Provide direct oversight by the WSIB for all re-training services for injured workers.
•Increase worker input and choice in their vocational goals.
•Make greater use of Ontario’s public education system for injured worker re-training.
•Provide workers with marketable skills and valid credentials.
The WSIB will recruit and train staff to deliver this new program. Qualified employees from the external LMR Service Providers will have the opportunity to participate in this recruitment, it said.
Goals of Work Reintegration
“The goals of Work Reintegration are to help injured workers return to decent, safe and sustainable jobs and to give Ontario’s employers more support from the WSIB to retain and re-train their injured employees,” the WSIB said in a press release. “Getting value from the investment in injured worker re-training is important to workers, employers, the WSIB and Ontario’s economy.”
“The WSIB is committed to helping injured workers return to work, and ensuring that employers see greater accountability and results for their funding,” said David Marshall, WSIB president and CEO.
The WSIB said it has received early support for the new Work Reintegration approach from both employer and worker stakeholders.
What stakeholders are saying about the program
The WSIB posted a page of “endorsements” of the changes on its website from various stakeholders. Here’s a sample of what they had to say:
The union view: “I am absolutely confident that the reintegration of LMR will directly improve claim duration and health care usage. The workers and employers of Ontario are the real winners of the WSIB's leadership decision to reintegrate LMR,” said Harry Goslin, president, Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 1750.
Sid Ryan, president of the Ontario Federation of Labour, said: “On behalf of workers, the Ontario Federation of Labour has been calling for change in the LMR program for years. We support the direction the WSIB is taking with work re-integration, and believe this new approach and more integrated program will better support injured workers and prepare them for the workforce.”
The employer view: “Overall, the new WSIB Work Reintegration approach seems to be a positive step forward. We can see it being very beneficial to both employers and injured workers, particularly since it will better integrate health care and return to work,” said Jay Wilson, manager, corporate health and safety, Brewer’s Retail/The Beer Store.
Laura D’Aloisio, health and safety manager at Sears Canada, said that, overall, the new program is going in the right direction.
“Change is needed so that training results in jobs,” said D’Aloisio.
Loretta Stoyka of Miller Canfield, and the employer representative for employers across Ontario, said the WSIB is on the “right track” with the proposed changes.
“The new approach should go a long way in benefitting employers and in helping make injured workers whole again,” said Stoyka.
Quick facts from the WSIB
•Job rehabilitation has been available to injured workers since the 1930s.
•Legislation in 1998 led to outsourcing Labour Market Re-entry case management to external service providers.
•An internal review and independent audit in 2009 identified the need to improve the effectiveness and accountability of injured worker re-training in Ontario.
