While our investigations of complaints are conducted confidentially, every year we select a number of cases for publication in our annual report. These case summaries (with names changed or abbreviated to protect confidentiality) are meant to illustrate the variety of work the Ombudsperson’s office does, and the kinds of resolutions we can often achieve.
Below you will find a selection of those summaries, taken from our past annual reports.
Work
Action expedited for WCB claimant
Workers’ Compensation Board
An important role the Ombudsman can fulfill is to clarify for an authority the urgency of dealing promptly with a complaint. These are situations that need to be dealt with quickly otherwise there may be significant consequences for those caught in the middle.In this case Mr. O contacted us to complain that a claim he had made to the Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) had taken so long to process that he had received disconnection notices for utilities and he feared bank foreclosure on his home if funding did not become available immediately. ...more
WCB error leads to reduced benefits for injured man
Workers’ Compensation Board
Mr. H complained to us that the Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) had acted unfairly by refusing to correct a mistake in calculating how much disability pay he should receive. Mr. H’s T4 slip, describing his earnings used to calculate a benefit, was difficult to read with the result that a decimal point appeared one place to the left. Mr. H told us that this mistake had resulted in lost benefits to him....more
Woman upset to learn she was subject of WCB video surveillance
Workers’ Compensation Board
We were contacted by Ms. O who was upset that the Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) had covertly been using video surveillance of her daily activities to assess whether or not she was being truthful about her injury....more
WCB medical assessments too much for injured man
Workers’ Compensation Board
We received a complaint from a woman regarding the Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) and the number of neuropsychological assessments it was requiring her husband to take....more