Bill 108 is titled the “More Homes, More Choice Act, 2019”.  In total it amends 15 statutes.  Buried in the Bill is Schedule 13 which if passed will amend the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act.  It proposes to give the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board the authority to establish premium rates for partners and executive officers of construction companies who do not perform construction work and who are not exposed to the risks of construction work. 

Under the current scenario, construction companies can identify one executive officer who doesn’t perform construction work, who is exempt from the compensation system and may have other executive officers who don’t perform construction work who are classified as non-exempt executive officers and classified into  Rate Group 755 which has a premium rate of around $0.20. 

This was all going to be lost when the new Rate Framework comes into effect on January 1, 2010.  Save for these proposed amendments, executive officers would have been assessed at the same premium rates as their construction trades workers.  These Bill 108 amendments allow the WSIB to recognize executive officers in the new Rate Framework and assess a commensurate premium rate.

We are led to believe that the WSIB already has the policy solution developed, possibly the creation of another construction class in the new Rate Framework for executive officers, and that the premium rate will be commensurate with the risk profile of the class, possibly slightly higher that the current Rate Group 755.

This is another win for COCA which lobbied hard for a solution to Rate Group 755 in the new Rate Framework.