Nova Scotia’s worker’s compensation system needs “substantive changes,” according to the province.
A new report from the Workers’ Compensation System Improvement Review Committee, suggests 10 key areas of improvement for workers’ compensation, according to a news release from the Labour Department.
Douglas Reid, chair of the review committee, says Nova Scotia has some of the highest employer premiums, the lowest benefits for workers who are unable to work because of injury. It also has the longest duration of injured workers off because of a work injury and “among the lowest percentage of workforce coverage.”
“The recommendations in this report offer a path for Nova Scotia to make substantive changes to the workers’ compensation system that will address some of these key issues and more while considering both employer and employee or injured worker needs,” Reid wrote in the news release.
This was the first review of the worker’s compensation system in 20 years, the release said.
The committee, which was established by the Labour Department in 2023, was made up of nine people, including employers, employees and injured workers. They had 21 meetings across the province in the last year to gather the experiences and feedback of more than 1000 workers and industry officials.
The WCB provides injury insurance for 350,000 workers and 20,600 employers, about 50,000 of which have no coverage at all.
The government says the review is part of their work to improve the worker’s compensation system and address psychological injuries at work.
The 84-page report identified 10 priority areas of improvement:
- system sustainability
- injury prevention
- awareness and understand of the system
- claims administration
- supporting safe and timely return-to-work
- compensation and benefits
- coverage
- psychological health and safety and gradual onset stress
- reviews and appeals
- system transparency and accountability
Province hopes to make ‘substantive changes’
Because of this report, provincial Labour Minister Jill Balser said this report is very useful for her department.
“My Department can now begin to examine the recommendations to determine the best approach for making substantive changes to the system for all Nova Scotians,” she wrote in the release.
But the biggest thing that needs improvement is the duration people are out of work when they’re injured.
Karen Adams, CEO of the Workers’ Compensation Board, said that, in Nova Scotia, workers are far more likely to go on long term benefits when they’re already on short term benefits than in other provinces.
“That’s what makes the whole system more expensive than other provinces,” she said.
Nova Scotia employers pay into workers’ compensation more than any other province, but the administrative costs are also 42 per cent higher than the national average, the committee report said.
But workers also get paid some of the lowest amounts in the country, Adams said. However, in Nova Scotia people are much less likely to get injured in the first place, she said.
Adams said the board didn’t wait to have this report before rolling up their sleeves and getting to work to improve the system.
One of the new things they’re rolling out in the next few days is compensation for gradual onset psychological injury, which can happen when someone is bullied or harassed at work and has a mental health diagnosis as a result of that.
She said implementing that is “really important and the right thing to do,” but it’s also because most other provinces already have this type of compensation.
Adams feels confident in her team’s ability to implement the recommendations from the report because they all care about helping Nova Scotians.
