Committee Report Released with Recommendations for Workers’ Compensation System

NOTE: The report is available in Resources, above and to the right on desktop and at the bottom of the release on mobile.

A report from the Workers’ Compensation Review Committee focuses on 10 key priorities to improve the province’s workers’ compensation system.

Compensation and benefits, coverage and the timely and safe return to work are among the issues with recommendations from the committee. This was the first review of the workers’ compensation system in more than 20 years.

“I want to express my thanks to the review committee for all their work over the past year that will help inform our efforts to make the workers’ compensation system better,” said Jill Balser, Minister of Labour, Skills and Immigration. “My Department can now begin to examine the recommendations to determine the best approach for making substantive changes to the system for all Nova Scotians.”

The 10 priority areas in the committee’s 84-page report include:

• system sustainability
• injury prevention
• awareness and understand of the system
• claims administration
• supporting safe and timely return-to-work
• compensation and benefits
• coverage
• psychological health and safety and gradual onset stress
• reviews and appeals
• system transparency and accountability.

The nine-member review committee included employers, employees and injured workers. It held provincewide engagement sessions, gathering insights from participants and industry and sector groups, as well as from other jurisdictions, to help inform the report’s recommendations.

This review is part of a series of ongoing work to improve workplace safety, the workers’ compensation system and address psychological injury in the workplace.

Quotes:

“In Nova Scotia, we have some of the highest employer premiums, the lowest benefits for workers who are unable to work due to injury, the longest duration of injured workers off work due to injury, and among the lowest percentage of workforce coverage in Nova Scotia. The recommendations in this report offer a path for Nova Scotia to make substantive changes to the workers’ compensation system that will address some of these key issues and more while considering both employer and employee or injured worker needs.”
— Douglas Reid, Chair, Workers’ Compensation Review Committee

“WCB Nova Scotia is grateful for the work of the Nova Scotia Workers’ Compensation Review Committee. We also thank each and every worker and employer who took part in the review. The report charts an exciting future. It notes real progress in injury prevention, and it outlines real, lasting change that could make a significant difference. For us, it also validates our Protect More 2024-2030 Strategic Plan, and it underlines the importance of the service improvements that are already underway.”
— Karen Adams, CEO, WCB Nova Scotia

Quick Facts:

• the Nova Scotia Workers’ Compensation System Improvement Review Committee was established by the Department of Labour, Skills and Immigration in 2023
• the committee met 21 times over the past year and participated in provincewide consultations with more than 1,000 Nova Scotians
• about 353,000 workers and 20,600 employers are insured under the WCB, while about 50,000 have no coverage at all
• in November, amendments were made to the Workers’ Compensation Act to allow gradual onset stress caused wholly or predominately by one or more significant work-related stressors or cumulative series of significant work-related stressors to be compensable

Additional Resources:

News release – Consultations to Improve Workers’ Compensation System, Protect Workers from Harassment: https://news.novascotia.ca/en/2023/10/24/consultations-improve-workers-compensation-system-protect-workers-harassment

Information about occupational health and safety in Nova Scotia: https://novascotia.ca/lae/healthandsafety/