Ontario Federation of Labour calls on ombudsman to investigate
Marvin Muldar has not held his third and youngest grandchild since she was born a little more than six months ago because of a debilitating lower back injury he suffered back in 2010 on the job at a Hamilton moving company.
Muldar is one of the injured workers in Ontario who has come forward as part of a new report that suggests Ontario’s workers’ compensation board (WSIB) sometimes ignores the medical advice of doctors and leaves injured workers behind.
At a press conference held in early November at Queen’s Park, the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) and the Ontario Network of Injured Workers’ Groups released Prescription Over-Ruled, a report on how the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board systemically ignores the advice of medical professionals.
The report confirms what advocates have heard for years, said the OFL’s secretary-treasurer at the time, Nancy Hutchinson.
"The WSIB system is more interested in clearing its case load than supporting workers who have been seriously injured on the job," Hutchinson said. "These doctors are blowing the whistle on the WSIB’s punitive practice of deeming injured workers eligible to resume work when their treating physicians and medical professionals have clearly stated the opposite."
According to the report, the WSIB’s management of medical care and evidence harms patients, including failing to follow return-to-work advice, insufficient treatment, blaming pre-existing conditions for ongoing illness, or using independent reviews that claim patients to be healed when their own practitioners say otherwise.
The result is that injured workers often feel re-victimized by the very system that is mandated to protect them.
Take Muldar, for instance, whose 2010 back injury has made his prior physically laborious duties at a moving company virtually impossible. Muldar was deemed eligible for an accommodated return-to-work performing secretarial jobs by the WSIB. It was against his doctor’s recommendation, but Muldar went ahead with the return-to-work test anyway. He has failed three times, and ended up in the hospital each time.
"I tried to go back to the work transition program — failed doing that because each time I’ve gone, I’ve ended up back in the hospital. I was transported to the emergency room — my body just overloads, it cannot handle it." He added that he now relies on a walker, a recent development he suspects is evidence of a worsening condition because of added strain and stress — and is beginning to manifest beyond the physical.
"It has just totally ruined my life," Muldar said, adding that he now suffers from mental depression. "I have three grandkids I can’t even hold. I don’t have a social life, I’ve lost many friends. I expect my wife to leave me anytime because she is dealing with the stress."
He said any interaction with the WSIB has been "frustrating" and that he and his doctors are at a loss as to how to proceed.
"Right now, as a worker, you have nowhere to go," he said, adding that counsel would be tough to afford for someone who is not fit for work and without a steady paycheque.
Muldar said he hopes his story prompts the government to take a hard look at the process and to "put the system back where it’s supposed to be."
Doctor’s note
The OFL report comes on the heels of a lawsuit filed by a WSIB doctor Brenda Steinnagel against her employer in September, alleging she was fired from the clinic where she was working because she refused to tailor her medical opinion to those shared by the compensation board. Two other doctors echoed her frustration in the OFL’s latest report.
Alongside Hutchinson and Muldar at the press conference were Dr. Giorgio Ilacqua and Dr. Keith Klassen, two registered psychologists in Ontario who detailed their interactions with the WSIB. They alleged that injured workers are repeatedly re-victimized by the provincial compensation system.
"The red tape is tangling up legitimate claims and preventing injured workers from getting the coverage they need," Ilacqua said. "Behind every claim is a real person with a family that has been turned upside down by a workplace injury — they deserve immediate and consistent care, not bureaucracy and red tape."
The report made several recommendations, beginning with a formal investigation by the province’s ombudsman into the WSIB’s treatment of medical advice. As well, statistics on injured workers should be collected and made public and rapid response time requests should be established.
WSIB response
The WSIB said in a statement that it was not consulted when the OFL was putting together its report. However, it said it takes the responsibility to injured workers very seriously and that when a claim is filed, the WSIB will take steps to ensure a comprehensive understanding of the recommendations from the injured worker’s medical professionals.
"The WSIB has quality assurance programs to ensure the efficacy and quality of these services. There are significant safeguards in the system and stringent checks and balances," the board added.
The WSIB also claims 92 per cent of injured workers are back within one year of their injury at full wages and that less than two per cent of claims are appealed. In 2015, the compensation board received the fewest number of appeals since 1989.
Any injured workers wishing to appeal a board decision can access the two-level appeal system including the independent Workplace Safety Insurance Appeals Tribunal or seek advice from the Office of the Worker Adviser.
