OFL report says 135 employers received rebates in same year as offences
"The WSIB is re-victimizing workers and their families by handing offending corporations millions of dollars in premium rebates," said Sid Ryan, president of the Ontario Federation of Labour.
The pattern is documented in Rewarding Offenders: Report on How Ontario’s Workplace Safety System Rewards Employers Despite Workplace Deaths and Injuries, by labour lawyer Joel Schwartz.
During 2011-13, 135 employers convicted of offences under the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) were granted rebates on their premiums. Almost 58 per cent received nearly $15 million the same year as their offences.
The rebates were made through the WSIB’s controversial "experience rating" programs, intended to provide financial incentive for improving worker’s health and safety. Instead, the program provides incentives for companies to suppress claims, said the OFL.
"The WSIB should scrap its experience rating system in all its forms and the resulting savings should be reinvested into workplace health and safety, as well as compensation for injured workers and their families," added Ryan.
