Ontario ends WSIB unfunded liability charge

TORONTO – Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) is ending its unfunded liability charge, beginning in January 2020.

The change will lead to a $607 million reduction in costs to business, with over 222,000 businesses seeing reduced premiums, minister of labour Monte McNaughton claimed in the announcement. Of this, about $130 million is related to reduced new claims cost and lower administration costs.

The Ontario Workplace Safety & Insurance Board is Canada’s largest insurer for workplace safety. It provides benefits to injured workers. Over 300,000 employers in Ontario are registered with the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board to receive coverage for some five million employees.

With the reduction announced today, the Doug Ford government has reduced WSIB costs to business by more than $2 billion since taking office. These costs are falling while benefits to injured workers are maintained and workplace safety continues to improve.

McNaughton made the announcement at a job site operated by Eastern Construction, an Ontario-based company that has pledged to give WSIB premium reductions back to employees. Eastern’s 130 employees each received a cheque worth on average $600 from their employer last year.

In September 2018 the Ontario government announced the elimination of the unfunded liability, along with an almost 30 per cent decrease in premiums starting in January 2019.