Ombudsman calls for WorkSafeNB overhaul

New Brunswick's ombudsman is calling for a complete makeover of how WorkSafeNB offers compensation to injured workers.

Charles Murray said on Monday that he believes the original mandate of the workers' compensation commission was to find a way to deliver benefits to injured workers without going to court.

But as more powerful interests became involved in the private sector, he noted a shift has taken place.

"I think what has happened at WorkSafe is that over time the goal has become to protect the fund, to maintain low premiums and that has caused WorkSafe to lose the focus on full protection for workers," he said.

"It is not a total shift but it is a subtle shift, which over time has caused it to move from where I think as a society we'd want WorkSafe to be."

The effect of that shift, according to the ombudsman, is fewer injured workers getting access to benefits from the commission.

"The evidence that we see is a consistent pattern in WorkSafe which results in denial of coverage for workers where we think a very reasonable case could be made that those workers should receive benefits or extension of time for rehabilitation," he said.

He said it may be time to refocus on workers' compensation in order to address the gradualshift in its mandate.

"We have to recognize that an injured worker has suffered a life crisis. They may be impaired in their ability to do even daily tasks, they may as a result of their injury or as a result of medication, may have had some mental problems as well," Murray said in an interview on Monday.

"We have to recognize that it is not fair to expect that worker to go through a long and repeated process in order to get to the end result. We have to help them."

A committee of MLAs is reviewing the legislation that makes upWorkSafeNB. This task has not been done in more than two decades.

The committee's mandate is to examine how to make sure the legislation is relevant to a modern workplace andto find a balance between "adequate compensation for injured workers and employers' financial interests."

Murray told a legislative committee examining WorkSafeNB that he would like to see a broad public discussion about what is wanted from the workers compensation system and the legislative change needed to make it happen.

He would also like to see the corporation's mandate reviewed every 10 years.