NDP calls for Wynne government to drop court case against injured workers

Cindy Forster, the Ontario NDP’s labour critic, issued the following statement in response to the Wynne government’s refusal to drop its defense of discriminatory practices that are currently denying injured workers their WSIB claims after they developed mental health issues while on the job.

“Instead of helping workers who were injured on the job, the Wynne government is going to court to fight them.

Premier Kathleen Wynne is defending her government’s record of denying WSIB compensation to workers who developed mental health issues after chronic or long-term trauma on the job. 

New Democrats are calling on Premier Wynne to stop using workers’ money against them in court, drop its court defense and immediately recognize the mental health diagnoses of injured workers.

By waiting until after the next provincial election to change the law that discriminated against workers suffering from mental health concerns, and excluding all claims made prior to 2018, the Wynne government is playing politics on the backs of injured workers and denying them the insurance they need after being injured on the job.

This comes just one month after the WSIB president, Premier Wynne’s former chief of staff, was praised for appearing at Injured Workers Day events at Queen’s Park. If the Wynne government was serious about change, it would make immediate changes to the flawed system.

New Democrats call on Premier Wynne to stop running roughshod over Ontario workers and Ontario's workplace safety and insurance system.”