Workers' Compensation

The Community Legal Assistance Society has served the interests of injured workers since the mid-1970's. CLAS's Workers' Compensation Program combines test cases and other casework with aggressive law reform and community building to tackle the outstanding problems facing injured workers under the current law and policy.

Test cases primarily take place within the appeal system, but CLAS has also challenged the Board's position in all levels of the court system. The Napoli case, decided by the B.C. Supreme Court and Court of Appeal in 1981, first gave Canadian workers the right to see their files so that they could prepare an effective case for appeal. In Kovach v. Singh, decided by the Supreme Court of Canada in 2000, CLAS successfully argued on behalf of injured workers groups from B.C. and Ontario that workers must receive compensation for additional disability caused by negligent medical treatment. 

Since 1977, CLAS has organized and hosted the Workers' Compensation Advocacy Group, which meets monthly. The WCAG has nearly 200 members, including union reps, community advocates, injured workers' leaders, legal aid staff, workers' advisers, and lawyers who specialize in representing injured workers. The Group is recognized by WCB and the government as a major stakeholder for injured workers, and provides a workers' perspective on many law reform issues.

In 1999, CLAS and PovNet initiated a confidential email list which allows worker advocates and other representatives of injured workers to keep abreast of new developments in workers' compensation, and seek and provide advice on problem cases.

In 1998, CLAS was asked by the Royal Commission on Workers' Compensation in British Columbia to represent the interest of injured workers during the final phases of its long hearing process. It was an honour to be given this opportunity, and numerous submissions were made that would have advanced the interests of injured workers in many respects. Unfortunately, when the Royal Commission's recommendations were released in January, 1999, CLAS (along with the Federation of Labour and other worker advocates) was deeply disappointed. Five of the major recommendations in particular would have set back the rights of workers greatly, and CLAS was forced to work hard to oppose their implementation.

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Workers' Compensation Projects