By Gerald
Click on the following link:
https://www.therecord.com/news-story/9123231-rubber-workers-should-be-allowed-to-sue-miners-advocate-says/
Just because the WCA protects employers from civil litigation, there is
nothing in the “Act” that protects WCB from civil litigation.
Questionably is why the burden of proof is placed on workers when the
burden of proof is and always has been on the “Board”. Not only is the
burden of proof on the “Board” to prove causation, they also have the
burden of proof to provide evidence of an alternate cause. If not, the
claim remains in a neutral state and the benefit of doubt goes to the
worker.
Determining causation according to the SCC does not depend on medical
certainty as this is too high a standard and all that is needed is to
determine that the work environment was a contributing factor, even a
trivial contributing factor. Workers compensation systems are
prehistoric remedies that a hundred years ago may have had some
significance but in today’s world, there are better systems that
guarantee acceptance of claims without spending decades fighting for
compensation when a mandatory system that does not depend on causation could be brought in which would more than likely result in getting rid of a lot of deadwood at WCB and forcing doctors to get real jobs rather than providing medical opinions that are based on nothing but their
opinions.
I have in the last several years assisted two workers, one whose claim
goes back to 1973 and another to 2009, both long standing claims which
are now under investigation by WCB due to obvious errors by the WCB,
DRDRB and the Appeals Commission. I suspect that the decisions were
deliberate but I cannot prove malice or deliberate denial of the claims,
therefore I have no choice but to call them errors. As well a Judicial
Review is coming up on Feb. 20, 2019 specifically on how impairment
ratings have been illegally used as a direct method of rating a
disability. On top of this I have the Fair Practice Office attempting to
determine who has the burden of proof and who has the burden of proof of
an alternate cause which is how the inquiry system is supposed to operate.
The writer also hit the nail on the head when it is a proven fact that
workers whose claims and benefits have been illegally denied are being
supported by taxpayers through our health care plan and social
services. Of course no government wants to admit that this is the way to
keep premiums low to benefit the economy.
