COVID has profoundly impacted the WCB. Learn what can be done to protect your business.
1) COVID has delayed surgeries & rehab for injured workers, thus causing prolonged recovery periods. Meanwhile claims costs are spiralling, but you may be entitled to cost relief.
2) Depression & anxiety are now presumptively covered by WCB. The incidence of expensive psych claims has since grown exponentially, with claim volume rising by 2700% in recent years contributing to premium increases of 40-200%. COVID will only add fuel to the fire. Is your team prepared to manage an influx of psych claims?
3) Insurable earnings are no longer capped. This means injured workers are now entitled to 90% of gross earnings, without limitation, for the duration of their claim, i.e; someone earning $120K/yr is eligible for $108K in wage-loss. Do you have return-to-work plans to mitigate runaway costs?
4) COVID & cheap oil will hamper revenue growth. Disability management tacks 2-5% onto EBITDA via reduced WCB premiums, lower group-benefit costs, curtailed hiring/training/absenteeism costs, so forth.
5) Standard CSA Z1011 is set for release shortly. Courts across Canada already refer to the draft Standard with respect to judging employers’ treatment of injured workers. Embracing Z1011’s best practices will help avoid run-ins with human rights tribunals and mitigate tortious claims.
