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This administrative board does not have an overall good reputation with working Ontarians. The process is extremely slow and stressful for individuals who are injured. As Katherine Sperti mentioned in the video, people who get denied end up in extreme financial hardship due to the fact that they can not work, and now have no income.

If mediation was used more widely across the board, or implemented earlier in the process (at WSIB) people could negotiation or try and settle before exhausting years in the system and potentially losing everything they had before the accident. The wait times are a major issue on this board and mediation is a great alternative to waiting.

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This video was filmed by Durham College Students in the Paralegal Program. The interview is with Katherine Sperti, who is a passionate representative for employees with WSIB /WSIAT claims, and an instructor at Durham College as well.

- 2:30 in the video she talks about her experiences with tribunals,
- 7:30 she talks about the steps in the proceedings; and
- 10:40 she discusses the rules of applying to the boards.

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Productivity and Activity Report, 2nd Quarter 2016

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Productivity and Activity Report, 2nd Quarter 2016

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Interesting read regarding the improvements of case waiting times within the WSIAT institution.

The report includes:
- Steps being taken to improve wait times
- What improvements they are projecting
- Goals for implementing these steps.

Interesting facts include:
- Right now it approximately takes 12 -18 months for appeal case to be open and closed.
- Most of the scheduling issues arise from last minute adjournments where they can't reallocate the adjudicator's resources.
- Last year (2015), there was an average of 4,400 appeals made to WSIAT

The report also includes tables that compare this year's productivity with 2015's.

"Quarterly Production and Activity Report" Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal (July 2016), online: Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal <http://www.wsiat.on.ca/english/publications/q2E2016_caseload.pdf>

The PDF is available to review on the padlet box to the left

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The Mission of WSIAT is to....
“Provide quality adjudication in workplace safety and insurance appeals in accordance with the principles of natural justice on a fair and timely basis. Its legislative interpretations should provide workers, employers, the Board, government and the public with a well-reasoned commentary on legislation in the workplace safety and insurance system.”

http://wsiat.on.ca/english/about/index.htm

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1. WSIAT is an Ontario tribunal.

2. The board is based on a no-fault insurance system for employees who are injured during the course of their employment.

3. Having these tribunals in place takes away the rights of workers to sue their employer for injuries that happened during the course of their employment.

4. All decisions made by WSIAT are final and binding and are not open to the option of further appeal. Any disputes from this point forward go to Judicial Review

5. Anyone who wants to appeal a decision from WSIB must file a Notice to Appeal with WSIAT within 6 months of receiving the decision from WSIB

7. Decision makers at WSIAT use "whole person" adjudication, which means they look and determine the injuries as a whole per person, rather than at each injury a person has.

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WSIAT is the Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal in Ontario

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1. One or both parties have to request for mediation.
2. The board then has to determine whether mediation is appropriate in the case before them.
3. If they feel that the case isn’t right for mediation they will proceed with scheduling a hearing.
4. If the board deems that it is suitable, they will then contact the parties, and obtain their consent to mediate the case through a document called an agreement to mediate.
5. The parties meet with the trained mediators employed by WSIAT to mediate the agreement by clarifying issues and hopefully resolve the case.
6. If a settlement is reached in mediation, it still has to go through the final process of approval through the Vice-Chair of WSIAT.
7. The chair ensures that the settlement is in accordance with policies and the Act.
8. If the settlement is not approved, the case will be scheduled to be heard by another Vice-Chair within the board.

http://www.wsiat.on.ca/english/appeal/mediation.htm

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What should we know about Mediation at WSIAT?

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What should we know about Mediation at WSIAT?

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- Any mediation that is provided by the board, is done by a trained employee. They do not outsource mediators.
- Mediation is an optional process, and has to be agreed upon and voluntary by both parties.
- Any mediation application has to be reviewed by a board member to ensure that the case is appropriate for mediation.
- It should also be noted that a party who wishes to pursue mediation must indicate to the board before a hearing date is scheduled.
- The mediator has the task of speaking with both parties in a neutral manner, and to seek objective criteria from professionals and reports. They must also provide off the record reports of strengths and weaknesses of the appeal.
- Within mediation at WSIAT, there can be various issues within a case. It is possible for the parties to settle some issues in mediation, and continue to a hearing with a Vice-Chair for the other unresolved issues in dispute.

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Although they are separate institutions and decision-making bodies, they do share the same enabling legislation:

Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997, S.O. 1997, c. 16, Sched. A

Decisions and Appeal of WSIAT are addressed in Part XI, starting at s.123

You can access the full version of the act on this e-laws link:
Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997, S.O. 1997, c. 16, Sched. A, online: Ontario's e-laws <https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/97w16>

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The answer is YES, but WSIAT is its own institution with separate employees and decision makers. Their purpose is to specifically hear the appeals from the final decisions branch of the WSIB tribunal

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But Isn't there already a Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) in Ontario?

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But Isn't there already a Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) in Ontario?