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If you have not already done so, please contact the other WCB jurisdiction where your workers will be working to confirm that jurisdiction’s requirements. Resources WCB-Alberta works in partnership with health care providers to ensure the timely and appropriate treatment of injured workers. Find resources and reporting requirements related to workers’ compensation, disability and Paid Family Leave insurance coverage. As an employer, you must ensure the health and safety of your workers when they are working from home.
“That’s compared to 55 per cent, taxable, for those who have to go on employment insurance in Quebec” if they’re not found eligible for worker’s compensation, he added. Employers must have procedures in place to ensure the well-being of workers who work alone or in isolation. Lone workers may be at increased risk of confrontations or even violence, particularly if they are on shift during late night hours.
Air Canada employee who fell on stairs in her home eligible for worker’s compensation: Judge
You want your workers to be covered each and every day, no matter where they're working. We have the information and tools to support you when an injury happens at work. We’ve moved to an online platform called WCB Job Connections, making the TOJ application process even easier.
We connect you with the resources and services you need to help you recover. Become an authorized provider, find fee schedules, access medical treatment and impairment guidelines. It includes a variety of scenarios to help clarify WCB coverage for employees while they are working from home. Kelloway said the risk-adverse position of the government is also what makes the WCB putting the option out to tender remarkable. One of the largest digital companies in the world, Google, recently announced that it will allow employees to work from home until June 2021.
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In contrast, in a subsequent ruling in Santa Rosa Junior College v. Workers’ Comp. The court held that the employee was not required to work from home, but it was the employee’s choice to work from home, and the court ultimately found that the accident occurred during a routine commute. Again, one of the factors that may be considered for compensability is whether the employee chose to work from home, if it was required by the employer, or if there was approval from the employer. As mentioned previously, injuries sustained during a regular commute to and from a workplace are not compensable but one of the exceptions to this rule is when the home becomes a second workplace.
It can be challenging to assess if a home injury is genuinely work-related, so if you have any doubts about reporting a claim, we encourage you to contact your claims representative or consultant. Ask your employee to take photos of the injury (cuts, bruises, swelling, etc.) and the injury site when possible (broken chair, dangling cord, etc.). The more information you can gather for the carrier, the easier it will be to assess compensability. Much has changed in the two-and-a-half years since March 2020, when most of the country went into lockdown due to COVID-19 and most businesses moved to remote work models. As a result of mass layoffs and employee absences due to COVID-19, the Great Resignation was born. We cannot automatically extend coverage as the length of time outside the province is not met under Section 28 of the Workers' Compensation Act.
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Although there were no explicit instructions to take the work home, there was tacit or implied approval. Promptly clean up spills and any mud or water tracked into the house by people or pets.Trips. Make sure your home is well-lit and that all cords are safely secured and out of the way.
Matheson didn’t indicate what was in the cards for the long-term future of working from home for government employees. In a statement, Nova Scotia said approximately 70 per cent of its workplace is back in the office, either on a rotating or full-time basis. Companies working from home has been something that was already available for certain fields of employment, but it’s something that has “increased dramatically” during the pandemic, Kelloway said. Although it has not been without its challenges, shifting most of the WCB workforce to working remotely has been a success. But like many workplaces across the globe, the novel coronavirus pandemic has changed that, with most of the WCB workforce working from home. An arms-length government agency is taking a chance and exploring what it may need to do to get its staff of approximately 400 employees working from home — permanently.
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Fortunately the internet provides a wealth of information as a starting point. The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health & Safety has a Telework and Home Office Health and Safety Guide available to download for free until December 31st, 2020. The government of British Columbia offers information on Flexible Workspaces which includes a Telework Agreement template. The Workers’ Compensation Board of Alberta provides an Employer Fact Sheet on Telecommuting that clearly outlines coverage for employees working from home. Develop a written agreement covering employer and employee responsibilities to be signed by employees currently working remotely and those preparing to work off-site. To support this practice, WorkSafeBC would like to share the following guidance on employer and worker responsibilities for ensuring their workspace is healthy and safe.
In the scenario of an hourly wage worker who has a fixed hybrid schedule, for example, the Coming and Going Rule can arguably apply since the worker has a fixed time and place for regular commuting. In the case of a salaried employee however, this may be less clear, especially if the employee regularly works from home with the knowledge of their employer. What if the salaried employee goes into the office and comes home to perform more work? Would an accident during the commute be considered within the course and scope of employment? With laptops and flexible work schedules, work can be done anywhere and at any time, complicating the defining line of when work starts and ends.
It’s important to understand that employee injuries at home may be covered by workers’ compensation. See our resources for information on ensuring the health and safety of lone workers. In most cases, the remote worker has the burden of proof, meaning that they must be able to demonstrate that they were acting in the interest of their employer at the time they got sick or injured.
Furthermore, check-in and other procedures are required if the worker is working alone or in isolation. For more information, see our OHS Guidelines on the Definition of working alone or in isolation and Procedures for checking the well-being of workers. Employers are asked to consider having workers work remotely (e.g., work at home) where practicable, as part of efforts to slow the progression of COVID-19 through social distancing. “People are as productive or sometimes more productive when they work at home … employees generally tend to like working at home,” Kelloway explained.
Read our latest Property and Casualty Looking Ahead Guidewhere we forecast upcoming trends, including workers’ compensation considerations, the impact of the pandemic, accelerating climate changes, and litigation trends. Your insurance carrier may have safety materials such as training webinars, blog posts, and online remote workstation ergonomic evaluations that you can use as part of your safety emphasis. As more people get vaccinated, we are all eager to see the pandemic in the rearview mirror. However, many employers will continue to offer remote work options to their employees in our post-COVID world. Therefore, employers should continue to foster awareness of working safely at home. The other consideration is whether the employee has a fixed place of employment.
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