- Administrative Fund (transfer of costs)
- Apportionment (occupational disease)
- Apportionment (Schedule 1 and 2 employers)
- Transfer of costs (Schedule 2 employer)
In 1992, the SG Board was part of an amalgamation of school boards, and the new amalgamated school board (the School Board), became a Schedule 2 employer. The Board determined that the current Schedule 2 School Board was the appropriate employer for the claim costs, and the costs of the claim could not be transferred to and/or apportioned with any other employers or of the School Board's own prior account. The issues under appeal were: a) whether the employer was the correct accident employer to whom the costs of this claim should be assigned in the first instance; and, b) whether the employer was entitled to have any or all of the claim costs apportioned to either the worker's prior employers or its own predecessor Schedule 1 account.
The appeal was denied. The School Board was the correct employer for the purposes of this worker's claim.The Panel found that the School Board was appropriately charged the full costs of this worker's claim because there is no authority under the WSIA for apportionment of claim costs between Schedule 2 employers and Schedule 1 employers or accounts. Section 94 of the WSIA speaks to the identity of the responsible Schedule 2 employer for occupational disease claims. Case law has confirmed that this section applies only to Schedule 2 employers.In Decision No. 3113/18, the Vice-Chair stated that a Schedule 2 employer who is the last exposure employer is the prima facie accident employer for the purposes of the claim, pursuant to sections 94(2) and 21(8). The Panel found there was evidence of likely exposure to asbestos during the worker's 27 years of employment as a shop teacher with School Board. His exposure with the School Board was likely a significant contributing factor to the development of his lung cancer, even if exposure at other employers may potentially have been more contributory. Accordingly, the School Board was the last exposure employer. With respect to the apportionment of claim costs between Schedule 2 and Schedule 1 employers, it was noted that section 84, which operates in conjunction with section 28(1), provides for a transfer of costs from one employer to another employer where it is determined that the other employer's negligence was responsible, in whole or in part, for the workplace injury. This type of cost transfer is only available as between Schedule 1 employers. With respect to whether the costs of an occupational disease can be apportioned between Schedule 2 and Schedule 1 employers - case law has held that it cannot. Further, there is no authority under the WSIA to apportion, transfer, or otherwise allocate costs between Schedule 2 and Schedule 1 employers. This includes the circumstances where the apportionment sought involves any allocation to a predecessor account of the same employer.