Workers' compensation and benefits policy
Workers' compensation is a form of insurance providing wage replacement and medical benefits to workers injured in the course of their employment. Eligibility for, and awarding of, benefits to injured workers are determined by workers’ compensation boards, which are funded through employer premiums. IWH research explores trends in compensation benefits, including benefit adequacy and equity, as well as the effects of compensation policy design on injury and illness prevention.
Featured
Research Highlights
Severe pain, not pressure to return to work or lack of accommodation offer, linked to opioid use post-injury
An IWH study found that among a group of injured workers in Ontario, those who experienced severe pain were more likely to use opioids than those who had no or only mild pain.
Published: February 12, 2025
Research Highlights
Workers are using cannabis to treat work-related conditions, mostly without medical guidance
While cannabis is often used recreationally, there is growing interest in its use for therapeutic purposes, such as for pain, anxiety, depression and sleep problems. Some workers are using cannabis many months following the onset of a work-related condition, mostly without medical guidance.
Published: October 5, 2023
Project
Project
Role of health-care providers in the workers’ compensation system and return-to-work process
How do health-care providers their role in the return-to-work process? What challenges do they face interacting with workers’ compensation boards, injured workers, employers and other health-care professionals? These are among the questions answered by a multi-jurisdictional research team led by IWH.
Status: Completed 2017
Impact case study
WSIB work reintegration program improves outcomes, lowers costs
Study by IWH "points us in the right direction," says former WSIB exec.
Published: December 2014
Impact case study
Manitoba takes measures to address claims suppression, review assessment rate model
IWH conference on experience rating and financial incentives helps shape review of claims suppression.
Published: December 2014
Impact case study
Evidence-based service delivery model at WSIB improved return-to-work outcomes
A new case management system for delivering services to injured workers and employers in Ontario leads to improved return-to-work outcomes.
Published: December 2014
Issue Briefing
Suppression of workplace injury and illness claims: summary of evidence in Canada
This Issue Briefing highlights findings from two reports by Prism Economics and Analysis—one for Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board and the other for the Workers Compensation Board of Manitoba—on the incidence and risk of claim suppression.
Published: October 2014
Project report
Project report
Work injury and poverty: investigating prevalence across programs and over time
This report shares the findings from a study on the prevalence of poverty among permanently impaired injured workers across different time periods and receiving benefits from different legislative programs.
Published: July 2014
At Work article
At Work article
New research centre to examine work disability policy in Canada
The Centre for Research on Work Disability Policy, led by two IWH scientists, aims to improve how people with disability are supported in the labour market
Published: February 2014
IWH Speaker Series
IWH Speaker Series
Income security and labour-market engagement: Envisioning the future of work disability policy in Canada
In this plenary IWH senior scientists Drs. Emile Tompa and Ellen MacEachen describe the new Centre for Research in Work Disability Policy, recently launched to address work disability policy challenges through a seven-year SSHRC Partners grant. They describe the centre’s mandate and how it's organized to create a new generation of research on work disability policy.
Published: February 2014
Project report
Project report
Adequacy of workers’ compensation benefits: supplemental report
This report describes the findings of a supplemental analysis of the adequacy of workers’ compensation earnings replacement benefits. The original analysis measured the adequacy of earnings replacement benefits for permanently disabled workers under two workers’ compensation benefit regimes in Ontario. The supplementary analysis ihcludes the contribution of Canada Pension Plan Disability (CPP-D) benefits to the assessment of the adequacy of wage replacement benefits.
Published: April 2013
IWH Speaker Series
IWH Speaker Series
Work disability trajectories under three workers' compensation programs
This presentation profiles a study that investigated how Ontario workers’ compensation claimants from different time periods fared in terms of labour-market earnings recovery. More specifically, this study investigated the labour-market earning patterns of Ontario workers’ compensation long-term disability claimants from three different time periods and receiving benefits under three different programs. The study provides insights into the individual and contextual factors that contribute to labour-market engagement and earnings recovery.
Published: April 2013