Policy section content
Section detail
- The Workers’ Compensation Act, 2013 (the Act) directs that the Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) shall have exclusive jurisdiction to examine, hear and determine all matters and questions arising under this Act and any other matter in respect of which a power, authority or discretion is conferred upon the WCB and, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the WCB shall have exclusive jurisdiction to determine the average earnings of a worker (Section 20(2)(f)).
- If a worker is disabled for longer than the day on which the worker was injured, compensation must be paid on and from the day of the commencement of the worker’s loss of earnings resulting from the injury (excluding the day on which the worker was injured) (Section 31).
- For a worker who sustained an injury before September 1, 1985, earnings means the worker’s gross earnings from employment. For a worker who sustained an injury on or after September 1, 1985, earnings means the worker’s gross earnings from employment less probable deductions for:
- Income tax payable by the worker using the exemption in place with the worker’s employer on the date of injury (e.g., basic personal exemption, exemption for dependants and employment-related tax credits),
- Canada Pension Plan premiums payable by the worker, and
- Employment insurance premiums payable by the worker (Section 2(1)(k)).
- When an injury to a worker results in a loss of earnings beyond the day of the injury, the WCB shall determine the loss of earnings resulting from the injury and shall ensure compensation to the worker:
- In the case of a worker who sustained an injury before September 1, 1985, in an amount equal to 75% of that loss of earnings; or
- In the case of a worker who sustained an injury on or after September 1, 1985, in an amount equal to 90% of that loss of earnings (Section 68(1)).
- In accordance with Sections 68, 69, 71 and 72 of the Act, when a worker has returned to work but continues to incur a loss of earnings, the calculation of the loss of earnings must be based on the difference between:
- The worker’s average weekly earnings at the commencement of the worker’s loss of earnings resulting from the injury, increased annually by the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index; and
- The weekly earnings that the worker is receiving from employment.
- A worker’s average weekly earnings is the greater of:
- One fifty-second of the worker’s earnings for the 12 months preceding the commencement of the worker’s loss of earnings resulting from the injury; and
- The rate of daily, weekly, monthly, or other regular gross earnings that the worker was receiving at the commencement of the worker’s loss of earnings resulting from the injury converted, in the case of a daily, monthly, or other rate that is not a weekly rate, to a weekly amount (Section 70(1)).
- The amount of earnings loss for a worker who is totally unable to work because of the work injury will not be less than one-half of the average weekly wage as of June in the year preceding the year in which the review of earnings loss occurs or, if the worker’s average earnings at the time of the injury are less than that amount, the amount of those earnings (Section 75).
- The average weekly earnings for a worker who has received earnings loss for at least 24 consecutive months not less than two-thirds of the average weekly wage as of June in the year preceding the year in which the review of earnings loss occurs (Section 70(5)).
- A worker’s eligible gross earnings will be subject to the maximum wage rate applicable at the time of the injury (Section 37).
