Ontario Proposes New Workers' Compensation System

Summary#

Bill 86 would replace Ontario’s current workers’ compensation law with a new system called the Meredith Act (Fair Compensation for Injured Workers), 2025. It keeps the no‑fault model (workers do not sue employers) but expands benefits, speeds up payments, and adds retraining and medical supports. It renames the current agencies, strengthens their independence, and sets clearer appeal rights.

• Pays 90% of a worker’s net lost earnings, with annual inflation protection for permanent injuries.
• Adds payments for pain and suffering for permanent injuries, and broader support for dependants when a worker dies.
• Covers co‑op students, apprentices, learners, and volunteers as “workers.”
• Requires quick interim payments if decisions take more than 15 days.
• Covers medically appropriate treatments, drugs, and devices not paid by OHIP; offers retraining for permanently injured workers.
• Renames the WSIB as the Workers’ Compensation Commission of Ontario and the appeals body as the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Tribunal of Ontario, with more transparency and independence.

What it means for you#

• Workers

  • If you are hurt at work or develop a work‑related disease, you can get 90% of your net lost earnings. Payments for permanent injuries go up with inflation each year.
  • You may also get payments for pain and suffering if your injury is permanent. These stop only when the pain or loss ends.
  • If a decision takes longer than 15 days, you get interim payments that usually don’t have to be paid back.
  • The Commission pays for medically appropriate tests, treatments, drugs, and devices that OHIP doesn’t cover. If you have private insurance, it tops up what the plan doesn’t pay.
  • You are offered education and retraining to get you back to at least the earning level you had before.
  • You keep health benefits and other non‑taxable workplace perks until you return to work, retire, or your employment is legally ended.
  • You can choose the doctor who gives a second medical opinion, which the Commission pays for.
  • Co‑op students, apprentices, learners, and volunteers are treated as workers for coverage.

• Older workers

  • If you were 65 or older when injured, lost‑earnings payments stop at age 70 or five years after the injury, unless the Commission decides you would have kept working longer.

• Families and dependants

  • If a worker dies from a workplace injury or disease, the Commission pays funeral costs.
  • Dependants can receive lost‑earnings payments (for a period to be set by regulation), education and retraining to reach the deceased worker’s earning level, and a pain‑and‑suffering payment equal to one year of the worker’s deemed income.

• Employers

  • You must report workplace accidents, suspected injuries or diseases, and register new employment relationships when pay crosses low income thresholds.
  • You must continue non‑taxable benefits for injured workers until they return to work.
  • You must accommodate injured workers up to undue hardship (as required by the Human Rights Code). Disputes can be mediated, and the Commission can make binding decisions.
  • Premium rates are set by the Commission and can vary by industry and risk. Richer benefits and wider coverage may lead to higher premiums.
  • A broader reporting system will require logging first‑aid cases, medical incidents, and health‑related job changes, even if not caused by work.

• Small employers

  • You can get advice and representation from the Office of the Employer Adviser, with a target of a first meeting within 15 days of request.

• Appeals

  • Workers or employers can appeal Commission decisions to the Tribunal and can challenge Commission policies used in the decision.
  • In accommodation appeals, the Tribunal accepts a qualified medical practitioner’s opinion as the medical facts.

Expenses#

No publicly available information.

Proponents' View#

• Strengthens fairness by paying most net lost earnings, indexing permanent benefits to inflation, and adding pain‑and‑suffering payments.
• Speeds help to injured workers through interim payments and a “benefit of the doubt” standard.
• Improves return‑to‑work with guaranteed education and retraining tailored to local job markets.
• Expands coverage to students, learners, and volunteers and modernizes how work‑related diseases are recognized.
• Makes the system more independent and transparent, with public policies, posted board minutes, and clear appeal rights.
• Supports families after a workplace death with funeral costs, income support, retraining, and a clear pain‑and‑suffering payment.

Opponents' View#

• Richer benefits (pain and suffering, pension and CPP contributions, extended health costs, interim payments) could raise employer premiums and business costs.
• Wider coverage (including volunteers and broader disease rules) may increase claims and system liabilities.
• Accepting medical opinions as decisive in accommodation appeals may limit employers’ ability to contest complex cases.
• Interim payments that are mostly non‑recoverable and “benefit of the doubt” standards may encourage more or larger claims.
• Added reporting duties and documentation requirements could increase administrative burden, especially for small businesses.
• Governance changes and strict independence may reduce government oversight and make cost control harder.