Sisters, Brothers, Friends:
We have been advised by a few of the Locals in the Pacific Region that the Frequently Injured Employee (FIE) program is being rolled out in certain areas. We had heard in the fall of last year that this was starting to pop up in other Regions in the country. Old program, new name.
We brought this to the attention of the General Manager, Human Resources Director, and the Labour Relations Manager in a meeting April 14, 2022, as we had not been given any information about this program being rolled out in this Region.
This is an initiative where the employer interviews workers who have had multiple work accidents. Their stated goal is to try and assist these workers in becoming “safer”, which infers workers are careless or inattentive. In some cases, they have gone back over a 10 year time span.
We advised Canada Post that we vigorously oppose this “blame the worker” program. Work accidents are caused by workplace hazards, and not by the actions of the worker. The way to make work safe is to eliminate these hazards and that should be what the employer is focusing on.
The employer has a legal obligation to investigate every workplace accident, with the participation of a union representative, and to provide a report to the Local Joint Health and Safety Committee (LJHSC) or Health and Safety Representative. The LJHSC then analyzes the report and provides recommendations to the employer on making the workplace safer. This is the means available to the employer to determine the cause of an accident, and identify and eliminate hazards. It is important that this prescribed process is followed, because the parties can investigate at the time of the accident, obtain current information and eliminate hazards before other workers are injured.
Interviewing workers months and years after an accident serves no useful purpose. The union views these interviews as a means of intimidation, with the goal of deterring workers from reporting work accidents and thereby reducing the number of workers’ compensations claims. Employers discouraging the reporting of claims is called “claim suppression”. Section 98 of the Workers Compensation Act makes it an offence for an employer or supervisor to commit claims suppression.
The Workers Compensation Act BC is grounded in the principle of being a “no-fault” system. Workers cannot be harassed, importuned or disciplined for having the misfortune of suffering a workplace injury-they are deemed not responsible for the accident due to the “no-fault” provision in the Act.
The Region is advising the Local Joint Health and Safety Committee Members and workers not to participate in the interviews. We also ask that you inform your Local right away if this is happening in your workplace. The program is an attack on workers for reporting work accidents and filing legitimate workers’ compensation claims. The Locals should file grievances if workers are disciplined for not attending the interview.
The Locals should also grieve if joint accident investigations are not being conducted at the time of the incident and if the LJHSC’s are not provided with investigation reports. You will find the requirement for accident/incident investigations and the distribution of the reports in Article 33.06 of the Urban Collective Agreement and under Section 125 (1) (c) of the Canada Labour Code Part II.
By working together, we can once again stop this regressive program of the employer and protect our members from intimidation and discipline when they are injured at work.
In Solidarity,
Jennifer Savage
Education & Organization Officer