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Update to Duty to Accommodate in the Workers’ Compensation Act – Bill 41

April 24, 2025 at
10:00 AM - 12:00 PM PST This is a virtual event

Zoom Video Conference

On January 1, 2024 two significant changes were made to the Workers’ Compensation Act. Bill 41 introduced the:

  • Duty to Co-operate for both workers and employers, and the
  • Duty to Maintain Employment (of injured workers) for employers

There is a lot of new policy and a detailed Practice Directive about both new Duties, but there are still a lot of questions, including how these Duties overlap with Collective Agreements and with the human rights/collective agreement duty to accommodate. We are all watching how the WCB is going to implement this law and policy.

This course will cover the content of both new Duties and address some key questions:

  • What do workers need to know about first steps after an injury?
  • How will WCB officers investigate suitable duties and what evidence is needed?
  • How are injured workers going to deal with employers who are demanding the come back to work to inappropriate jobs?
  • How will the dispute be resolved if a worker says they can do certain modified job duties and the employer disagrees?
  • Is the WCB obligated to involve the union in this process? What is the union’s role in both Duties?

We are all just learning how WorkSafeBC officers are going to deal with these situations. It’s crucial that unions be on top of this process in order to prevent their members from being ill-treated by employers and the Board with the threat of termination of benefits hanging over them.

In this course we will try to cover all aspects of the changes and will welcome discussion about what others are seeing in their workplaces.

Facilitator: Sara O’Leary, O’Leary Law
Sarah O’Leary was called to the bar in 1981 and has primarily been practicing Workers’ Compensation and disability-related law for over 30 years. She has been a workers advisor, a Vice-Chair at the Appeal Division, a staff lawyer at a major health care union and practiced for 10 years at Rush Crane Guenther. She is currently in private practice.