Public input needed in review of act

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It's that time again-Saskatchewan's Workers' Compensation Act will get its regularly scheduled checkup.

A review of the act is conducted every four years by a committee of review to keep the act up to date, fair and responsive for both the employers and employees.

"The review process allows the legislation and the administration to be updated on a continual basis, which means it can more closely reflect changes in the workplace," said Natosha Lipinski, communications consultant for Saskatchewan Labour.

According to Lipinski, the committee of review will meet in early May, at which time they will set their agenda and the process they will follow for the review.

The committee consists of six people that represent both employers and employees. Through stakeholder consultations and input from the public, the members will draft recommendations, then a final report will be forwarded to Labour Minister David Forbes. He will then consider the recommendations and bring them forward to cabinet.

Members of the public will have a chance to have input into the review process. Information about where and when public consultation sessions will take place will be advertised in daily newspapers.

"The committee wants public input, which is an essential part of the process," said Natosha Lipinski. "Public consultation is vital to the process."

The last review process resulted in 48 recommendations being made based on individual things that were contained in the Workers' Compensation Act itself. Out of the 48, 14 were implemented through changes to the legislation, 10 more were implemented through changes in Workers' Compensation Board (WCB) policies and an additional 19 were implemented through the board itself.

"The changes were very descriptive and particular," said Lipinski.

For example, one of the recommendations implemented by the WCB was to publish both the expected recovery timetables and a list of chronic disability risk factors. Another was to conduct an objective evaluation of the performance of the WCB early intervention program.

"So, they're incredibly broad, yet very specific in particular to individual areas of the act itself and they cover a wide range of everything that has to do with the workers' compensation system," said Lipinski.