Human Resources Legislative Update
WSIB Amends Its Appeals Practices and Procedures
Date: March 1, 2024
Following a recent stakeholder consultation, in February 2024 the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) published changes to its Appeals Practices and Procedures.
The WSIB reports these changes will improve its “efficiency in providing timely, quality decisions and excellent customer service.”
Some key changes include:
- updates to the WSIB’s objection intake, appeals intake, and triage processes to ensure that cases are appeal-ready
- new guidelines and processes regarding the jurisdiction of Appeals Resolution Officers to add appeal issues to the appeal agenda for “holistic adjudication of related issues,” to ensure finality of decisions and to avoid fragmentation of issues
- new guideline for expediting appeals regarding return-to-work and related issues
- updated guidelines regarding method of resolution, including written hearings as the default method of resolution, and oral hearings as the default method for initial entitlement to chronic mental stress appeals
- an added statement that Appeals Resolution Officers will direct benefits flowing from their decision to the extent possible based on the information they have
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