Can You Be Fired After a Workplace Injury or WSIB Claim in Ontario?

Getting hurt on the job is stressful enough without worrying about losing it. The law takes that worry seriously: punishing an employee for being injured or for claiming benefits is one of the things it most clearly prohibits.

Can you be fired for getting hurt at work?

Not because of the injury or the claim. Ontario's workplace safety laws make it a reprisal to dismiss, threaten, or penalize a worker for filing a WSIB claim or seeking benefits. An employer can still end employment for a genuinely unrelated reason, but if the injury or claim was a factor, the dismissal is unlawful.

WSIB reprisal protection

If you are punished for claiming, you can bring a reprisal complaint, and the remedies can include reinstatement, lost wages, and penalties against the employer. The point of the protection is to make sure injured workers are not scared out of the benefits they are entitled to.

The re-employment obligation

Beyond reprisal, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act gives many injured workers a re-employment obligation with concrete thresholds. It applies to employers who regularly employ 20 or more workers, where the injured worker was continuously employed for at least one year before the injury. Once you are medically able, the employer must offer to re-employ you in suitable work and accommodate the injury to the point of undue hardship. The obligation runs until the earliest of two years from the date of injury, one year after you are medically able to do the essential duties of the job, or the date you turn 65. If the employer breaches it, the WSIB can order payment of up to your net average earnings for the year before the injury, plus continued benefits.

The duty to accommodate your injury

On top of the WSIB rules, the Human Rights Code requires your employer to accommodate a disability, which a workplace injury usually is, to the point of undue hardship. That can mean modified duties, a graduated return, or adjusted hours. Skipping the accommodation process is a common and costly employer mistake, the same as with any medical leave.

Ontario tribunals have backed this up in real return-to-work cases. In Deroche v. Recycling Renaissance International Inc. (2005 HRTO 26), an employer that discriminated against a worker with a compensable injury during the return-to-work process paid 10,000 dollars for injury to dignity plus about 5,146 dollars in economic losses. In O'Brien v. Organic Works Inc. (2012 HRTO 457), a worker who was not properly re-employed after being medically cleared recovered roughly 13,000 dollars including lost wages.

The duty runs both ways, though. In Ellis v. General Motors of Canada Ltd. (2011 HRTO 1453), the Tribunal found no breach because the employer had done the work: it ran extensive job searches with WSIB ergonomists and medical review and offered a suitable alternative role, which the worker refused without explaining her concerns. If you are offered genuine suitable work within your restrictions, cooperate and put any concerns in writing. Refusing reasonable accommodation can sink an otherwise strong claim.

What should you do if you were fired after an injury?

1. 1.Write down the timeline: when you were injured, when you claimed, and when you were let go.
2. 2.Keep your medical documents and any communications about your claim or return to work.
3. 3.Do not sign a release on the spot.
4. 4.Get advice. A dismissal tied to a workplace injury can support several claims at once. A free review tells you where you stand.

About the Author

Omar Haddad

Legal Writer, Mirza Law

Omar Haddad is a legal writer at Mirza Law in Toronto. He writes about termination, medical and disability leave, and what the law protects when an employee is let go.

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