Notice of Change in Benefits or Services

Policy Purpose

WCB benefits, payments or services may be reduced, suspended or stopped.  Sometimes, the Workers Compensation Board (WCB) must make these changes because of what is said in The Workers Compensation Act (the Act) or WCB Policy. In these cases, the WCB does not have a choice about the change in benefits, payments or services. At other times, the WCB makes a decision or judgement based on the circumstances of the case. In these cases, the WCB is making a "discretionary" decision about whether or not to make the change.

Any person who may lose some benefit, payment or service should be told about the change before it actually happens. This means that "notice" is provided to the person before the change happens. This can include the worker, employer and healthcare professionals providing treatment.

For WCB claims, two types of notice are described in this policy. The type of notice for a change which the WCB must make will be different from the type of notice provided where the WCB is making a discretionary decision.

This policy is intended to help WCB clients understand their rights about when and how notice of a loss in benefits, payments or services will be provided. Specifically, this policy describes:

• When the person must receive "advance notice" before the WCB actually changes the benefits, payments, or services.
• When the person might not receive advance notice before the WCB actually changes the benefits, payments or services.
• How notice is provided by the WCB (i.e., verbal, written, both).
• How much notice (i.e., how many days) is provided by the WCB before a change is made.

The Act allows the WCB to decide whether to change benefits or services when the worker is delaying recovery or not mitigating the effects of an accident. In these circumstances, the WCB provides notice in a unique way which may be different than described in this policy. For information about these differences, please refer to WCB Policy 44.10.30.60, Co-operation and Mitigation in Recovery.