The Workplace Safety and Insurance Act has been operational for over a year. Are you familiar with the new return to work protocol? The mandate of the Special Investigation Branch? The application of new Board policy?
The lawyers of Mathews, Dinsdale & Clark LLP are at the forefront of workplace safety and insurance advocates. Mr. S. D. Gorelle currently sits as the chair of the Law Society Specialty Certification Committee for Workplace Safety and Insurance Law. He also has been a member of the executive of the Canadian Bar Association – Ontario, Workplace Safety and Insurance Section. Lawyers of the firm have handled all types of workplace safety and insurance matters at all levels of appeal throughout the province, including claims management, classification/revenue, and re-employment hearings.
We are fully familiar with the Board’s changing processes. While the Board’s procedures may be difficult to understand and its methods not widely known, our daily interaction with the Board allows us to effectively and efficiently navigate our clients’ matters through the “minefield”.
We believe that the successful representation of our clients has been based on three underpinnings:
1. Integration of our employment and labour law practice with our workplace safety and insurance practice.
Increasingly, workplace safety and insurance management must be coordinated with collective agreement administration and/or obligations arising from other employment law statutes. The breadth of our labour and employment law services provides our clients with the confidence that the “whole problem” is addressed. This broad approach, which integrates legal advice with human resources management, is not available through workplace safety and insurance consultants.
2. We employ a cost/benefit approach to case management.
We look for cost effective solutions to workplace safety and insurance issues (and advise against proceeding with matters where administrative and legal fees will exceed the potential gain available). Furthermore, the cost of our services is predictable from the outset, unlike the contingency arrangements available through some representatives.
3. We utilize our intimate knowledge of Board practice and policy to provide our clients with reliable advice and greater certainty regarding Board process.
Our workplace safety and insurance expertise has proved invaluable in assisting our clients in achieving cost effective management of these matters. Given the cost of compensation claims, investment in workplace safety and insurance management has proven to have resulted in net positive returns.