Compensation board believed it was adhering to Workers' Compensation Act
New Brunswick's workers' compensation board, WorkSafeNB, is repaying nearly $4 million to more than 900 people. The payments are the result of a court ruling that concluded WorkSafeNB was wrong when it reduced injury benefit payments for Canada Pension Plan (CPP) recipients.
Some claims date back to over 20 years and were identified after a provincial Court of Appeal decision in April, a spokesperson for WorkSafeNB told the Canadian Press.
New Brunswick’s Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Commission — now known as WorkSafeNB — believed its policy of reducing workers' compensation payments from people receiving CPP was permitted under the Workers' Compensation Act, the spokesperson said.
The decision is the result of an appeals tribunal which reviewed the case of a sawmill worker in Sussex, N.B., who was injured in 2002. Wayne Douthwright began collecting monthly long-term disability payments of $766 in August 2009.
When Douthwright turned 60, he chose to collect CPP retirement benefits at a reduced rate of $547. In June 2010, WorkSafeNB told him his long-term disability benefits would be reduced by the amount of his retirement benefits and he would have to reimburse the commission for overpayments.
Douthwright asked the appeal tribunal to review the matter and it sided with him. JD Irving, Douthwright’s employer, appealed the ruling to the Court of Appeal, but eventually lost.
