The Workers Compensation Act provides benefits to workers who are injured or become ill as a result of their job. To receive these benefits, certain conditions must be met. Understanding how compensation is funded and who qualifies for benefits helps both workers and employers ensure that claims are handled fairly and that injured workers receive appropriate support.

All employers in British Columbia pay an assessment fee, which together cover all of WorkSafeBC’s operating costs. These assessments help fund worksite inspections, training workers, and all the direct costs of jobsite or workplace injuries.

WorkSafeBC also collects insurance premiums from employers to cover the cost of workplace insurance. Employers are required to pay these premiums, just as anyone would for any other forms of insurance. Premiums are based on workers’ assessable earnings, industry classification, and the employer’s claims history. The premiums collected cover costs related to work-related injuries and diseases, including health care, wage-loss benefits, rehabilitation, and administration.

Workers Who Are Covered

In most provinces, all workers, whether permanent or casual, are covered by legislation in the industries listed below. Casual workers are those who are not on the regular payroll or in steady employment with a particular industry.

Industries covered include:

• Communications
• Lumbering
• Fishing
• Mining or quarrying
• Manufacturing
• Retail sales
• Public utilities
• Wholesale supply
• Transportation
• Government agencies
• Construction

Always check the current provincial legislation to confirm which occupations are covered, as requirements can change over time.

Compensated Injuries and Job-Related Illness

Workers’ compensation is a “no-fault” insurance policy. This means that in most cases, a worker who is injured during work will be eligible for compensation, regardless of who was at fault. The Workers Compensation Act outlines compensation for personal injury claims in Part 4, Division 1. Workers normally receive compensation if they are covered under the legislation and “if, in the course of employment”, they:

• Suffer a personal injury or death
• Experience a mental disorder
• Contract an occupational disease such as mercury or lead poisoning, silicosis, asbestosis and other lung ailments, heart attack, radiation sickness, certain cancers, asthma, tendonitis, and heat stress
• Experience a loss of hearing

Circumstances for Compensation

If a worker is injured or becomes ill “in the course of employment,” that worker will normally receive compensation. The phrase “in the course of employment” does not mean the person has to be at work or on a jobsite: it means the worker must be doing something that is connected with the employment.

In deciding if an injured worker is eligible to receive compensation for injury or illness, WorkSafeBC considers the following questions:

• Did it occur on the employer’s premises?
• Did it occur in the process of the worker doing something for the employer?
• Did it occur during an activity done in response to instructions from the employer?
• Did it occur while using equipment or materials supplied by the employer?
• Did it occur while receiving payment or other consideration from the employer?
• Was the risk that the worker was exposed to the same as the risk a worker is normally exposed to?
• Did it occur during a time period for which the worker was being paid?
• Was it caused by some activity of the employer or a co-worker?

After considering the questions listed above, the Board allows claims that are not directly related to “work” but are related to “employment.”

The examples below describe the types of decisions WorkSafeBC has made:

• A truck driver was hit by a car while crossing the street to return to her truck. She had been cashing her paycheque on company time. She was compensated for her injury.
• A mine worker in a remote mining camp fell down the bunkhouse steps in the leisure hours after his shift. He received compensation.
• A carpenter hired in Vernon was travelling to Vancouver to a new job. He was killed in an automobile accident. His widow received compensation.
• A worker was staying in a hotel while on company business. She fell in the hotel bathroom and fractured an ankle. She received compensation.
• A worker contracted a lung disease many years after working with asbestos fibres. He was compensated.

Worker Benefits

When a worker’s claim is accepted, he or she will begin receiving benefits from WorkSafeBC.

The type and duration of the benefits depend on the nature of the injury and the work:

• Wage-loss benefits (WorkSafeBC, n.d.-d)
• Health-care benefits (WorkSafeBC, n.d.-a)
• Permanent disability benefits (WorkSafeBC, n.d.-b)
• Services for families coping with a work-related death (WorkSafeBC, n.d.-c)

WorkSafeBC benefits begin immediately. Note that:

• The employer is responsible for a worker’s wages on the day of injury.
• Wage-loss benefits from WorkSafeBC start the first scheduled shift lost after the day of a work-related injury or disease.
• Healthcare costs are covered on the day of injury.

A worker receives wage-loss benefits until the case manager concludes the worker is able to return to work or has recovered from the injury. If an employer can provide light or modified duties, and it’s safe for the worker to do them, he or she can return to work to conduct those duties.

WorkSafeBC benefits can be suspended if:

• The worker does not attend or does not co-operate in a medical examination or program arranged by WorkSafeBC.
• The worker participates in any activity that might delay recovery.
• The worker refuses treatment recommended by WorkSafeBC.
• The claim is fraudulent.

Compensation benefits, also known as wage-loss benefits, are based on 90% of a worker’s average net earnings. Therefore, WorkSafeBC must determine both the average earnings of a worker as well as the worker’s net earnings. There are also rules for short-term average net earnings (compensation up to 10 weeks) and special rules for long-term average net earnings (when the worker is disabled beyond 10 weeks).

Self-Test A-2.2: Describe WCA Conditions of Compensation

Complete Self-Test A-2.2 and check your answers.

References

BC Industry Training Authority. (2019). Piping trades apprenticeship program: Perform safety related functions—Level 1 harmonized [Binder]. Crown Publications, Queen’s Printer for British Columbia. https://www.crownpub.bc.ca/Product/Details/7960000260_S

Camosun College. (2015). Line A: Safe Work Practices — Competency A-2: Describe WorkSafeBC regulations (BCcampus). https://collection.bccampus.ca/textbook/4x48JUbq/

Camosun College. (2015). Trades Access Common Core Competency A-2: Describe WorkSafeBC regulations. Victoria, B.C.: Crown Publications. Download for free from the B.C. Open Textbook Collection (https://open.bccampus.ca/browse-ourcollection/find-open-textbooks/).

WorkSafeBC. (n.d.-a). Health-care benefits. https://www.worksafebc.com/en/claims/benefits-services/health-care-benefits

WorkSafeBC. (n.d.-b). Permanent disability benefits. https://www.worksafebc.com/en/claims/benefits-services/permanent-disability-benefits

WorkSafeBC. (n.d.-c). Services for families coping with a work-related death. https://www.worksafebc.com/en/claims/benefits-services/death-benefits

WorkSafeBC. (n.d.-d). Wage-loss benefits. https://www.worksafebc.com/en/claims/benefits-services/wage-loss-benefits

Media Attribution

• A Worker Supporting an Injured Co-Worker, is by Mikael Blomkvist from Pexels and is used under the Pexels License.