OFL Report “Rewarding Offenders” Exposes WSIB
Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) is rebating millions of dollars each year to companies that have been found guilty of offences that resulted in employees being killed in workplace accidents.
Over the three year period between 2011 and 2013, 135 employers who had been convicted of offences under the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) were granted rebates on their premiums by the WSIB.
Astonishingly, 78 of the 135 (almost 58%) received nearly $15 million in rebates in the very same year they had committed their offences. In many of these cases, the rebates received by the companies exceeded the fine they were levied as a result of their conviction.
The figures were derived from a comparison of the WSIB’s experience rating data obtained under Ontario’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, and publicly available Ministry of Labour Court Bulletins for convictions under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
This OFL report was penned by Joel Schwartz, Staff Lawyer for the Industrial Accident Victims’ Group of Ontario (IAVGO).
| Download the OFL full report on WSIB by clicking here. |  |
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Please direct all media inquiries to Joel Duff, OFL Communications Director at 416-707-0349 or jduff@ofl-org.flywheelsites.com
