No company wants to report a workplace injury to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), but when an incident does occur immediate and proper action is necessary.
“Quite often the claims are lost in the first three days because of poor documentation and incomplete investigating,” says Theresa Dowsett, managing principal of Ryan-Dowsett Paralegal Services, who has managed hundreds of WSIB claims on behalf of her clients. “A lot of companies don’t know when they have to report and when they don’t have to report.”
Dowsett, who is also the president of the human resources (HR) outsourcing firm Workforce Acceleration, says claims management typically falls under the HR portfolio, but is a specialty function.
Not only has the new “Road to Zero” focus of the WSIB working diligently to eliminate fatalities, injuries and illnesses in the workplace – which requires stringent compliance regulations, employers also have an obligation to implement a return-to-work program, says Dowsett.
Additionally, the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) requires a modified work schedule for injured employees under its Duty to Accommodate imperative.
“So, there are becoming layers of legislation that are making the return-to-work process more complicated for employers,” she explains. “That’s where I come in, helping them unravel the legal complications when WSIB’s obligations, the OHRC Duty to Accommodate, due diligence and privacy laws are involved.”
A paralegal since 2000, Dowsett was one of the first paralegals licenced in Ontario and one of the few that focuses in employee law.
Effective November 1, 2007, Bill 14 came into effect requiring “anybody who consults with companies in matters of legislation must be a lawyer or paralegal licenced by the Law Society of Upper Canada,” says Dowsett.
“My paralegal licence is enhanced by my HR designation because I understand both the HR implications and the WSIB claims management, which has always been an HR function,” she adds. “It’s not a combination many people have.”
Working collaboratively with lawyers, she is able to save her clients money when she can take care of the claim and bring in the higher-priced lawyers when hefty fines, penalties and possible jail times are at stake.
“However most claims are not in that category,” she says. “So, do you need a surgeon when you only need a splinter?”
Statistics say the average WSIB lost-time injury in construction, for example, costs the company $35,000, she cites. “Studies also show the more investment a company makes in safety training, the lower the injury rate and that results in higher profits.”
Dowsett’s HR company Workforce Acceleration closes the circle by providing all the necessary safety training, manual development and programming to comply with current regulations.
“They’re separate companies because they have to be (to comply with the Law Society of Upper Canada), but one dovetails into the other,” she explains, urging companies to talk to specialists when dealing with WSIB claims.
“A lot of companies hire HR generalists, but no one can be a specialist in everything. The risk to the employer – the cost of a badly managed claim – can be a salary or more.”
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