The Act Respecting Industrial Accidents and Occupational Diseases ("Industrial Accidents Act") provides compensation for employment injuries by creating a no-fault mandatory state-run insurance plan for employees injured in the workplace. The Industrial Accidents Act is designed to provide compensation and rehabilitation benefits to workers who suffer an injury at work or contract an occupational disease. No action lies against the employer of an employee who has suffered an employment injury resulting from an industrial accident or an occupational disease.

Employer declarations

Within 60 days after the beginning of its activities, the employer must provide the CNESST, for each of its establishments, the following information:

  • information pertaining to incorporation of the company;
  • the nature of the activities carried on in each establishment;
  • an estimate of the gross wages that it expects to pay to its workers until the following December 31.
  • Then, before March 15 of every year, the employer must transmit to the CNESST a statement indicating the following particulars for each of its establishments:
  • the amount of the actual gross wages earned by its workers during the preceding calendar year;
  • an estimate of the gross wages it expects to pay to its workers during the current calendar year.

Assessment

Workers' compensation assessments are levied each year and are based on risk and/or experience. The assessment rules provide that an employer, depending on the size of its insurable payroll, will be assessed in accordance either with the rate applicable to the unit under which it is classified, a personalized rate of assessment, or the retrospective adjustment plan.

Generally speaking:

  • the unit rate assessment (i.e. the rate applicable to the relevant unit of classification times each $100 of payroll) is for small businesses, i.e. with an annual assessment of less than $7,500;
  • the personalized rate of assessment, which corresponds to the applicable unit rate adjusted to the experience of the employer, is available to medium and large-size employers with an annual assessment between $7,500 and $425,000 and with a risk experience of at least three (3) years before the year of assessment;
  • the retrospective adjustment plan is applicable to very large employers with an annual assessment in excess of $425,000 and with risk experience of at least three (3) years before the year of assessment;
  • under the retrospective plan, the assessment of the employer is adjusted taking into account the actual cost of the employment injuries and the limit of the assumption of the cost of benefits chosen by the employer.

Employers who are not already covered under the retrospective adjustment plan, however, may, if certain conditions are met, form a safety group to potentially benefit from lower assessment rates (see subsection "Safety groups" following).

Safety groups

The Industrial Accidents Act empowers the CNESST to make an agreement with a group of employers it considers appropriate (i.e. a "safety group") determining, in particular, the special conditions governing the application to such employers of personalized rates or retrospective adjustments of their assessments.

Safety groups are designed as an incentive system to promote and reward safe working conditions and to allow member employers to potentially achieve lower assessment rates than they could otherwise obtain as individual employers.

Notice of accident

Workers and employers must notify the CNESST in the event of an accident or occupational disease. Employees have six (6) months after the injury to file a claim. Employers must pay workers, who becomes unable to carry on their employment by reason of an injury or an occupational disease, 90% of their net salary, up to the insurable maximum amount, for each day or part of a day the workers would normally have worked, for 14 days following the beginning of their disability. This amount is later reimbursed by the CNESST to the employer. The CNESST takes over the payment of benefits beyond 14 days. Most decisions of the CNESST may be reviewed. After giving the parties an opportunity to present observations, the CNESST will make a decision on the basis of the information contained in the file. It may confirm, quash or amend the initial decision and, if appropriate, make the decision that should, in its opinion, have been made initially.

Within 30 days of being notified of the decision, a person who believes he or she has been wronged by a decision of the CNESST may apply for review at an administrative level at the CNESST. Then, within 45 days of being notified of said reviewed decision, a person who believes he or she has been wronged by such decision may contest it before the Administrative Labour Tribunal.

Right to return to work

Workers who are absent from work as a result of employment injuries continue to accumulate seniority and to benefit from the pension and insurance plans offered in the workplace (provided they pays their share of the required contributions).

Workers who become able to carry on their employment are entitled to be reinstated in preference to others in their jobs, in the establishment where they were working, or else to be reassigned to equivalent jobs in any of their employer's establishments.

Workers who were employed for fixed terms are entitled to be reinstated and to remain in their positions until the date of expiry of their contracts. If the employer is bound by a collective agreement and does not reinstate such a worker on the ground that the worker would have been transferred, suspended or dismissed, or would have lost his or her job otherwise if he or she had been at work, the relevant provisions of the collective agreement apply as if the worker had been at work at the time of the transfer, suspension, dismissal or loss of employment.

Workers who are unable to return to their regular jobs, but become able to carry on suitable employment, are entitled to hold the first suitable employment that becomes available in any establishment of their employers. This right is subject, however, to the rules respecting seniority prescribed by the collective agreement applicable to such workers.

Subject to the employer's general duty to accommodate, the right to return to work may be exercised only:

  • within one (1) year following the beginning of the period of continuous absence of any such workers, if the establishment where they were working had 20 or fewer employees at the beginning of the period;
  • within two (2) years following the beginning of the period of continuous absence of any such workers, if the establishment where they were working had more than 20 employees at the beginning of the period.

Illegal dismissal and prohibited practices

It is prohibited to dismiss, suspend or transfer workers or practise discrimination or take reprisals against them, or impose any other sanction, because they have suffered employment injuries or exercised their rights under the Industrial Accidents Act.

A worker may file a complaint with the CNESST (or file a grievance if unionized). The CNESST may attempt to reconcile the parties if the worker consents to it. Otherwise, or if no settlement is reached, the CNESST, after hearing the parties, may order the reinstatement of the worker and/or award damages.

There is a legal presumption in favour of the worker that received the sanction if said sanction was imposed within six (6) months of the date on which he or she suffered an employment injury or the date on which he or she exercised a right under the Industrial Accidents Act. Once the presumption is established, the employer must prove that the sanction was imposed or the action taken in respect of the worker for another good and sufficient cause.

About BLG

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.