Workers Compensation (WSIB): The Worst Scars in the Mind is Mental Torture
The worker’s from the WCB are using the most insane techniques of
mental torture against injured workers in order to cheat of their entitled benefits, physical rehabilitation, and pensions.
The most common methods of torture from the Workers Compensation Board staff against
injured workers are:
1.- Controlling the mind of
the victims
2.- Interrogation and
torture being monitored by tortures and health professionals
3.- Making to belief that injured workers are suffering of mental illness even when the workers
are proving with medical evidence their
physical injuries.
4.- WCB psychiatrists falsely label
injured workers to be suffering of some kind of mental illness, diagnostic which
is aimed to prevent to collect their eligible benefits and qualify for physical
rehabilitation.
Ombudsman asked to probe WSIB treatment of mentally
ill
Complaint from group of legal
experts says workers with chronic mental stress injuries face systematic
discrimination.
By Sara MojtehedzadehWork and Wealth reporter
Mon., Nov. 14, 2016
Mentally ill workers are being
systematically denied benefits because of discriminatory and unconstitutional
practices at the province’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, according to
a new complaint sent to Ontario’s government watchdog.
The 138-page submission obtained by
the Star calls for an investigation into the WSIB for its treatment of workers
with chronic mental stress injuries due to workplace trauma. Such workers are
not currently entitled to compensation — even though the board’s own
independent appeals tribunal has already deemed the policy unconstitutional.
“It is untenable that this group of
vulnerable workers remain excluded from the compensation to which they are
constitutionally entitled,” the complaint sent to the Ontario Ombudsman says.
The complaint was submitted Thursday
by three Toronto-based legal clinics, a private practice lawyer specializing in
workers’ compensation, and Ron Ellis, the highly respected retired chair of the
WSIB’s independent tribunal.
“The absurdity of the situation and
the grim consequences for workers warrant your office’s urgent attention,” the
complaint says.
The WSIB did not respond to the
Star’s request for comment.
In response to questions from the
Star, Minister of Labour Kevin Flynn said fair benefits for injured workers,
including those living with mental stress, were a priority.
"CANADIAN MAINSTREAM MEDIA WEAPONS OF MANIPULATION, DESINFORMATION, AND MASS DESTRUCTION"
Labour Minister Kevin Flynn said
fair benefits for injured workers, including those living with mental stress,
are a priority for his government. (RICHARD BRENNAN / TORONTO STAR
FILE PHOTO)
“Basically dealing with this system
has been horrific, she said. “It’s intimidating, it’s difficult to get answers,
and they are untrained for dealing with mental stress.”
“The impact is financial, it’s
emotional, and it’s social,” adds John Bartolomeo of the Workers’ Health and
Safety Legal Clinic, one of the signatories of the complaint.
Two years ago, a nurse who endured a
decade of harassment by her supervisor resulting in anxiety and depression
successfully challenged the WSIB’s refusal to award her benefits. According to
the board’s independent tribunal, her constitutional right to equality was
violated by the decision to deny compensation, which the board was forced to
overturn. Two subsequent rulings on separate appeals in 2015 and 2016 reached
the same conclusion.
But tribunal rulings are only
binding in the specific cases before them — so the board has continued its
policy of denying benefits for chronic mental stress, according to the
ombudsman complaint. That means workers are forced to launch lengthy legal
battles to win their entitlements.
“The cost of mounting a Charter
challenge, both financial and emotional, are simply too high for many workers
to bear,” the letter to the watchdog says, noting that severe backlogs mean it takes years to get a tribunal
hearing.
“That is very stressful,” said
Toronto workers’ compensation lawyer Anthony Singleton. “People feel very
betrayed by the system. They are stuck in the system.”
The ombudsman complaint also faults
government for failing to fix the loophole in its current legislation, arguing
the Ministry of Labour is “aware that parts of the Workplace Safety and
Insurance Act have been deemed unconstitutional but has taken no remedial
action.”
According to Ron Ellis, who served
for over a decade as chair of the WSIB’s independent tribunal and is the author
of Unjust by Design. Canada's Administrative Justice System, a
government would usually either challenge a tribunal decision finding its
legislation unconstitutional — or change the law in question. In this case, the
Ontario government has done neither.
“The question is why,” says Ellis.
“It gives the appearance of being a tactical decision to stymie the
constitutional challenge process in order to prevent the board having to assume
the financial obligations implicit in the chronic stress benefit entitlement.”
This is the second time this year advocates have demanded an
investigation into the WSIB. As first reported by the Star, a group of doctors,
lawyers, and labour advocates submitted a formal request for the ombudsman in
January to probe the board for ignoring the medical opinions of injured
workers’ doctors.
The number of complaints made to the provincial watchdog by
ordinary citizens has also jumped by almost 20 per cent over the past year,
according to statistics requested by the Star.
Knelsen, who was spurred to activism
by her own decision, wants to see action from both the board and government.
“I call it the war within — because
PTSD really is,” she said. “It’s tearing families apart, forcing them into
poverty, some (workers) are killing themselves. And their response is, workers
with stress can wait.”
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