Direction of authorization for representatives

You can use a third-party representative to provide advice and help you interact with us. Authorized representatives can receive verbal or written information from us about your account or claim and represent you during the appeals process.

We can only accept representatives who are licensed by the Law Society of Ontario as a lawyer or paralegal or individuals who meet a licensing requirement exemption indicated on our direction of authorization forms. 

You’re required to complete and submit an authorization form to become a representative for a claimant or business.

Authorizing a claim representative

A specific person must be named on the

 for each claim where someone is acting as a representative. 

If you’re a person with an injury or illness and you’re unionized, you may be able to have your union act as your representative.

For more information, please review our Disclosure of Claim File Information to Worker or Employer Representatives policy or our FAQs for people and businesses with claims and their representatives.

Authorizing a business representative

You can grant access to a non-legal representative (e.g., accountant, bookkeeper, spouse) or legal representative (e.g., lawyers, paralegals) by completing the

. You’ll need to specify which category your representative falls under on the second page of the form.

You can submit your authorization request form online, anytime, anywhere.

Once a completed authorization for access to business account information form is received and processed, we can disclose confidential account information to the authorized representative.

Paralegal Requirements as of November 1, 2007:

Effective November 1, 2007, all paralegals must have submitted a completed Registration and Application form to the Law Society of Ontario and obtained errors and omissions insurance to provide legal services. The only exceptions are those persons who are exempt from the licensing requirement either under the Law Society Act or pursuant to a bylaw passed by the Law Society of Ontario.

As of November 1, 2007, claimant and business representatives are required to provide us (e.g. claims adjudicators and account representatives) with confirmation of their licensing status for all WSIB matters such as business account files and claimant files.

We don’t accept people who haven’t applied for a paralegal licence and who aren’t otherwise exempt from the licensing requirement.

You can learn more about paralegal licensing or contact the Law Society of Ontario to at 416-947-3315 or 1-800-668-7380 to get more information about paralegals who are exempt from licensing.