Injury on Duty

Federal vs. Provincial legislation

Workers in Canada are covered for injuries on duty by provincial Workers Compensation Board in their respective provinces. Federal workers fall under the Government Insurance Compensation Act that is more restrictive than some provincial legislation as in Saskatchewan. However, the Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board administers the plan for the federal employees.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers has negotiated a top off to wages so that instead of receiving 90% of net, we receive 100% of gross. The 90% of net is non-taxable and you receive a T-5 from the Sask. WCB for that portion of your wages. It should also show up on your T-4 from Canada Post, however that is usually done on an amended T-4 after the normal T-4s are distributed.

Another difference between federal and provincial is the right to sue third parties while collecting WCB benefits. Provincial employees can do both, federal employees have to make an election whether to sue for lost wages and other damages or choose the WCB benefits. The lawsuit may end up with more financial remuneration, however the process is longer and your lawyer will be receiving a portion of that settlement. If you choose WCB benefits, Labour Canada may also sue to recover their costs and you receive any payment above those costs if they are successful.

Reporting Accidents

Canada Post employees work in an environment that creates a lot of falls (particularly lettercarriers in the winter) bumps, strains, cuts, etc. A lot of these injuries are minor and require no attention. However, a few of these minor incidents result in infections, aggravation by other work, or increasing in pain during the period after and the result is lost time from work. If there is no paper trail (or at least witnesses) of the incident then it is extremely difficult for Workers Compensation to accept coverage.

This is why it is important to report these incidents. It would be nice if you could report it verbally and the supervisor remembers, however, it is easier for the injured worker to remember than a third party.

A second reason why to report injuries is that the Health and Safety Committee gets a copy of the accident investigation and if they see a trend in an area, they may be able to make recommendations to reduce the number of injuries in the future.

Types of Accidents

a) Specific lost time accidents: An incident occurs (i.e. a fall) and an injury results (i.e. a broken arm) and there is usually no problem with the claim for compensation.
You may get a lot of letters from Canada Post for your doctor to get you back to work on light duties – WCB encourages light duty programs -.
You may also run into WCB’s guidelines on how long it takes for recovery from an accident. They average out the length of time for specific injuries and try to get you back to work within that period.

b) Unspecific Injuries. These are the more difficult cases since WCB has to find a relationship between the injury and the work environment. It may seem obvious to workers that sorting thousands of letters per day will result in a repetitive strain at some point in ones career, but not to WCB. They think that if you are in a new job for a short period of time doing that work, then you are likely to develop a repetitive strain. But if you have been doing it for years then you are not likely to develop this condition. Unless something unusual occurs that you can indicate that triggered the condition.

c) Stress: Very difficult to receive benefits for from compensation. Provincial legislation is far better than the federal definition of an injury.

Reports of the accident.

Employer reports: SAIR – the initial report of the injury with the supervisor and the investigation with the shop steward. This then starts the reports to WCB.
a) Employer Initial Report to WCB
b) Physician’s Initial Report to WCB – when you see your doctor tell them that this is a work related injury.
c) Worker’s Initial Report to WCB – this should be mailed to you from Canada Post for you to complete and mail in. If WCB has questions about the incident they will phone you. Use clear language with WCB and stick to the point when writing or talking with them. An example of this is a lettercarrier who said he fell on his “walk” that the WCB defined as his sidewalk at home, not his lettercarrier route. Another example is a person giving too much description of their lifestyle that the WCB officer thought it was just prior to the injury and thus the cause rather than months prior to the incident.

Appealing Decisions

1. Workers’ Advocate Office: they work appeals every day so they are experienced and competent to do the appeal. Unfortunately they are backlogged because there are so many appeals in the system.
2. The Local office. George Britton has done numerous appeals and is training Terry Zahorski so that we will have two officers able to do the appeals.
3. Lawyer – they are willing to perform the work but is costs you as an individual and you may not receive better representation than the above two options.
4. Yourself – the process is not that complicated. You indicate the problems in the decision and give a rationale as to why the injury is related to the work and the weakness of their arguments and toss in whatever medical information you can use to back your claim.