Workmen's Compensation Act (Canada)

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As in other English-speaking countries, the Workmen's Compensation Act is a Canadian law that began in 1914 to regulate occupational accidents and diseases in the courts of the provinces and territories. Correspondingly, as accident insurance , regulations on disability, even in case of death, but also introduced to safety at work, but strongly diverge from province to province. The law is seen as the prelude to the development of the Canadian welfare state .

In a broader sense, workers' compensation is a series of laws that regulate material benefits, medical care and rehabilitation measures. Until then, accidents at work and occupational diseases fell under common law . In practice, this meant that in each individual case those affected had to sue their employer, who had to be proven guilty of neglecting certain obligations.

In 1889, the Royal Commission on the Relations of Labor and Capital found that the number of injuries in Canadian industry was very high and that working conditions were oppressive. A prerequisite for a modern regulation is the insight that injuries can never be ruled out regardless of the willingness to take responsibility and care under industrial working conditions, and that compensation must therefore be created without considering individual responsibility. However, the numerous suggestions for improvement were rejected by the government, as they would interfere with the authority of the provinces. Accordingly, there was no regulation until 1914, as the provinces were not ready to do so.

A Royal Commission, headed by Sir William Meredith, proposed a system in 1913 that would give workers compensation, but in return they would waive their right to sue their employer. The first law under this premise was the Ontario Workmen's Compensation Act of 1914. It was followed by similar laws in the provinces of Nova Scotia (1915), British Columbia (1916), Alberta (1918) and New Brunswick (1918) and later in all other provinces and provinces Territories. In Ontario, the Worker's Compensation Board (since 1998 Workplace Safety & Insurance Board ) came into being with the law, which is responsible for occupational safety in addition to its function as an insurance company.

Initially only workers were included in industries whose hazard potential was known, today almost all are included. However, farm workers, homeworkers , casual workers and temporary workers are not included. In some provinces, however, this can be achieved by application.

The compensation payments depend on the previous income, they are around three quarters of this income.

Financing takes place through contributions from employers depending on the risk known from experience in the various branches of industry. Depending on the risk, you pay between 0.25 and 15% of your wages. Higher risks are therefore covered by correspondingly higher contributions, which should help to reduce the risks in the longer term.

During the Great Depression , welfare recipients who had to work in road construction camps demanded that the law be extended to labor camps in view of the high number of accidents. A strike broke out in Vancouver in April 1935. Hundreds of workers moved towards the capital ( On to Ottawa Trek ) in June, but were stopped by police in Regina on July 1 . One policeman was killed in the attack on the 3,000 or so strikers, 40 demonstrators and 5 bystanders were injured, and 130 citizens were imprisoned. Only an eight-member delegation was admitted to Prime Minister Richard Bedford Bennett , who, however, denounced them as "radicals" and had them expelled. Nevertheless, the barrack-like labor camps were dissolved or converted a little later, so that the extension of the law to these camps was undermined.

literature

  • Ian Tom Coneybeer: The Origins of Workmen's Compensation in British Columbia :, Thesis MA, Simon Fraser University 1990
  • Therese Jennissen, Michael J. Prince, Saul Schwartz: Workers' compensation in Canada: a case for greater public accountability. Canadian Public Administration 43 (2000) 23-45
  • Eric Tucker: The Law of Employers' Liability in Ontario 1861-1900: The Search for a Theory. Osgoode Law Hall School 1984

Web links

Remarks

  1. ^ Prepared in 1915 by the Pineo Select Committee, presided over by Attorney General Avard B. Pineo (Coneybeer, p. 143).
  2. ↑ Striking Back. Social unrest and new political visions emerge during the Great Depression , Canada. A People's History