Welcome to the Research Action Alliance on the Consequences of Work Injury

Interaction between workers' compensation and other disability income and support programs

Principal Investigators: Jaime Guzman, Harry Beatty, and Emile Tompa

This is a descriptive and comparative analysis of current Ontario and Canadian programs and legislation related to income support for injured workers (e.g., workers' compensation, Ontario Disability Support Program, Canada Pension Plan Disability, private long-term disability insurance). It is well known that injured workers often move from one program to another or combine several sources of benefits; others can fall through the "cracks" and receive little to no support.

The key issues that will be reviewed are differences in determination of entitlement (the World Health Organisation's framework will provide a reference case for this analysis); incentives within programs for seeking employment; overlaps and gaps across programs; and the impact of system complexity on injured workers and others with disabilities.

Study findings will provide a good understanding of the collective coverage and gaps of the patchwork of disability programs and will be useful in supporting a comprehensive vision for disability compensation. The methodology includes legal research (legislation, policy and case law), review of legislative review reports and interviews with policymakers in the various programs.