Responding to an Appeal

Respondents and Interested Parties

The party who starts an appeal at the WSIAT is called the appellant. The appellant can be a worker or an employer. The other party to the appeal is called the respondent. Using information provided by the WSIB, the WSIAT determines the respondent(s) who need to be notified of the appeal and invites them to participate.

The WSIAT may also identify interested parties, who are not the appellant or the respondent, but still have some connection to an appeal, such as concurrent employers.

Response Form and Invitation to Participate in an Appeal

The WSIAT will send the appellant’s Notice of Appeal and the final WSIB decision under appeal to the respondent and any interested parties, to determine if they want to participate.

To confirm participation in the appeal, respondents are asked to return the Response Form to the WSIAT within three weeks.

Workers completing a Response Form must tell us if they agree to the release of their WSIB claim file(s) to the employer. Please see the Practice Direction: Access to Workers' Information When the Issue in Dispute is at the Tribunal for more information. Employers completing a Response Form must sign the Duty of Confidentiality and agree to only use the information they receive for workplace safety and insurance purposes.

If there are other issues in the same WSIB final decision that you wish to appeal, you should identify them on your Response Form as a cross-appeal.

No Response

If an employer does not respond to a Notice of Appeal within three weeks, the WSIAT assumes that the employer does not want to participate. The WSIAT will send no further information about the appeal except the WSIAT’s final decision.

If a worker does not return a Response Form within three weeks, the WSIAT will follow-up on whether the worker consents to the release of the WSIB claim file(s). Please see the Practice Direction: Access to Workers' Information When the Issue in Dispute is at the Tribunal for more information.

If you do want to participate in the appeal, please Contact Us.