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Index March 20, 2008
No Confidence in Alberta Appeals AdvisorWCB Critic Suggests Changes to the Office of the Appeals Advisor". . . these people work directly for WCB and are either afraid to make waves or they have been instructed to only go so far to make it look like they are helping when in fact they are not . . . over 70% of workers surveyed had no trust or confidence in the Office of the Appeals Advisor. "The Government and WCB make workers believe that the system is there to help them when they are injured. This is a lie. According to the Government and WCB if a claimant does not understand the process, they can request the assistance of the Office of the Appeals Advisor. This is a lie as these people work directly for WCB and are either afraid to make waves or they have been instructed to only go so far to make it look like they are helping when in fact they are not.I cannot remember whether it was the Doerkson report or the Friedman report that found that over 70% of workers surveyed had no trust or confidence in the Office of the Appeals Advisor. As you can see by the organizational structure the Office of the Appeals Advisor is under G. Kerr and under G. Kerr is Douglas Mah. Under Douglas Mah is the Office of the Appeals Advisor. http://www.wcb.ab.ca/pdfs/org_chart.pdf The Office of the Appeals Advisor is thus not independent from the "Board" and does exactly what they are told to do. In other words, WCB is representing a claimant against themselves. I have been requested by a disabled worker if I would help him after being abandoned by the Office of the Appeals Advisor. I first met the Advisor about 4 years ago at the home of the disabled worker. The Advisor seemed like a person that was willing to help the disabled worker who was requesting total or partial loss of earnings from 1992 to the present and beyond. Needless to say, the Advisor spent 4 years either doing nothing or does not understand the process. The Advisor never went beyond Customer Services in supposedly trying to get a pension due to an earning loss. A month ago he informed the disabled worker that he had done all he could and there was nothing more that he could do. Any one who knows the system, knows that when a claim is denied at Customer Services, you have the right to appeal and if that appeal fails, you have the right to appeal further. The disabled worker was not told this. He also was not told that there is a statute of limitations on filing an appeal. Of course with a grade 8 education, it would be virtually impossible for someone like him to navigate through the convolutive and ambiguous legal processes required to pursue a claim. Further to this, the disabled worker applied for CPP disability benefits in 1992 and was accepted due to the fact that he no longer was capable of performing any work. He also was accepted on a Provincial disability plan called AISH( Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped). Despite this, WCB believes that he is capable of working. He has attempted to work by lying about his work restrictions or failing to inform the employer as to his work restrictions. A Case Manager told him that he must not let an employer know that he has work restrictions. In attempting to perform work that was clearly beyond what he was capable of doing, he reinjured himself on several occasions which required hospitalizations due broken ribs and internal injuries after falling. The last fall late last year resulted in hospitalization for internal injuries, neck and upper extremity injuries which WCB refuse to pay any compensation for. His attending doctor who was instrumental in getting him on CPP disability and AISH has on numerous occasions wrote and called WCB stating that the claimant is and never was capable of doing any work since 1992 onwards. His phone calls and letters were ignored. There are also 3 other doctors who have also stated to WCB that it is highly unlikely that the claimant is capable of any work. There is no documentary evidence on file from any WCB contracted doctors who dispute this. The only one that suggests he can work is a Case Manager although he has never been assessed as to what sort of work the Case Manager believes he is capable of performing. Several week he requested that I help him. I was reluctant at the time because I am simply getting too damn old and worn out from fighting these scumbags. After some thought I decided that I could not stand by and let the scum bags hurt another human being like they have hurt others. What sort of individual would stand by and do nothing I asked myself. Unlike our elected MLA's who pretend to be concerned but continue to turn a blind eye to the injustice of a system that robs injured and disabled workers from the help that was supposed to be guaranteed in exchange for not suing the employer, I decided I must do the right thing and agreed to represent him. This pathetic mess has been caused by MLA's who refuse to believe the dire circumstances a claimant finds themselves in after an injury. Most injured workers do not have the ability to become experts in understanding the WCA, Workers Compensation Regulations, WCB Policies and how to interpret each of them. A claimant cannot fight a claim unless they have the financial ability to pay for expert medical opinions, pay for experts who understand the WCA, WCB Regulations and WCB policies which even most lawyers as well as the courts do not understand. Why should a claimant have to pay for these services any way if the system does not rely on the ignorance of claimants to enable them to defraud the claimant. The system is clearly confrontational and uses their own legal services to fight claimants as well as pay WCB friendly doctors to prostitute themselves for personal gain. The Office of the Appeals Advisor must be completely separate from WCB. The Office of the Appeals Advisor must also employ real lawyers who specialize in all aspects of workers compensation law. The Office of the Appeals Advisor must also have their own network of medical experts rather than forcing a claimant to use WCB's biased and incompetent medical doctors. Gerry Miller Back to Article Index |