If you miss time from work because of a work-related injury or illness and we allow your claim, you may be entitled to loss-of-earnings and health-care benefits.
While you receive a loss-of-earnings benefit you’ll also need to participate in your recovery and return to work. We’ll help you return to work that:
- is safe and productive, and
- is within your capabilities and limits (called functional abilities), and
- to the extent possible, pays you the same or close to what you were earning before your injury or illness.
How we decide your loss-of-earnings benefit
How we calculate your loss-of-earnings benefit depends on the date of your injury.
| Date of injury | Rate | Based on |
|---|---|---|
|
On or after January 1, 1998 |
85% |
Take-home pay up to an annual maximum |
|
April 1, 1985 to December 31, 1997 |
90% |
Take-home pay up to an annual maximum |
|
Before April 1, 1985 |
75% |
Pay before deductions up to an annual maximum |
Find out more about how we calculate your take-home pay.
If you never fully recovered from a workplace injury or illness that happened before 1990, you may be eligible for a permanent disability benefit. Learn more about how we calculate pre-1990 benefits.
Receiving your loss-of-earnings benefit
Your loss-of-earnings benefit normally starts:
- the day after your injury and/or illness, and
- when you begin to miss time from work.
Your employer is responsible for paying your wages for your full shift for the day of your injury and/or illness.
Your loss-of-earnings benefit will continue until:
- your work-related injury or illness no longer affects your ability to return to your pre-injury work; or
- you’re no longer losing pay; or
- the day you reach 65-years-old if you were less than 63-years-old the day of your injury; or
- two years after the date of your injury if you were 63-years-old or older the day of your injury.
After you reach age 65 and after your loss-of-earnings benefits stops, you may still be eligible to receive loss-of-retirement-income benefit.
How we’ll pay your loss-of-earnings benefit
You’ll get a loss-of-earnings benefit payment every two weeks.
If your loss-of-earnings is ongoing, we’ll review your benefit every year until you have received it for six years (72 months). After six years, we’ll review your claim and in most cases, we’ll make it permanent. After this happens, you have the choice to have it paid to you as a lump sum if it is 10 per cent or less of your full loss-of-earnings amount.
After the sixth year, we can review your benefit if:
- you are taking part in a return-to-work plan or health-care treatment that hasn’t finished at the six year mark; and/or
- your work-related condition gets significantly worse, and/or
- you didn’t report any significant changes to us before the end of six years.
Each year we adjust loss-of-earnings benefits to take into account inflation.
Significant changes
When we review your benefit, we look at whether there are any significant changes to your return-to-work status, medical condition or income. If you’re not sure whether a change is significant, get in touch with us. You have to tell us about any significant changes within 10 days of the change happening. Significant changes can include:
- If you return to work; or
- If you start to receive other income or government benefits; or
- If there are important updates in your medical condition.
If you do not report significant changes your benefits can be affected (for example, we can reduce, suspend or discontinue your benefits). If we believe you have misled us on purpose or held back information, it can result in legal charges and, if you are found guilty, you may go to jail or have to pay a penalty up to $25,000.
Return-to-work support
If your employer is not able to provide you with safe and suitable work after your injury or illness, we will work with you to develop a return-to-work training plan. You will continue to receive your full loss-of-earnings benefit as long as you continue to participate and co-operate in your recovery and return to work.
If you choose not to co-operate, we may suspend or reduce your benefits.
If you return to work but your injury or illness causes you to miss work again, you may be entitled to a loss-of-earnings benefit up to six years after the date of the original injury and/or illness.
For more information
Learn more about the other benefits you may be eligible for.