The Hearing

What Do I Need for the Hearing?

You should bring all case materials that we sent you, specifically the Hearing Ready Letter, Case Record, and Addenda. If you aren’t sure if you have all of the case materials, please Contact Us.

Who May Attend the Hearing?

We expect the following parties to attend the hearing

  • the party appealing – the appellant
  • the representative of the appellant, if any
  • any participating responding party – the respondent(s)
  • the representative(s) of the participating respondent(s), if any

For more information, please review Practice Direction #21 – Who May Attend a Hearing.

What Happens at the Hearing?

The Vice-Chair or Panel will introduce themselves and explain what will happen at the hearing.

Parties will be invited to provide an opening statement. An opening statement is a short overview or summary of your case. It also explains the outcome you want.

After that, parties will be invited to provide their testimony. You are expected to answer questions about your case from any other participating party and the Vice-Chair or Panel.

Any witnesses who appear are also required to answer questions from the parties and the Vice-Chair or Panel.

At the end of the hearing, parties are given the opportunity to provide closing submissions. Closing submissions should summarize the main points you have made.

The Vice-Chair or Panel will explain the order in which things happen at the hearing.

Witnesses

Witnesses are people who are giving testimony at the hearing who are not the appellant or respondent. The Vice-Chair or Panel decides when they testify during the hearing.

For information on other parties that may attend or observe a hearing, please review Practice Direction #21 – Who May Attend a Hearing or Contact Us.

Failure to Attend the Hearing

We expect you to attend the hearing. If you can’t make it to the scheduled hearing, Contact Us right away to let us know.

If you don’t attend a scheduled hearing, there may be consequences. These could include proceeding with the hearing without you or withdrawing your appeal. For more information, please review Practice Direction #18 – Notice of Hearing and Failure to Attend or Contact Us.

Who Will Hear the Appeal?

The WSIAT Chair usually assigns hearings to a single Vice-Chair. In certain circumstances, the WSIAT Chair may assign a Panel to hear an appeal or application.

The WSIAT Chair may appoint a Panel of three or five members, consisting of the Chair and/or Vice-Chair(s), a side member representative of workers, and a side member representative of employers.

The WSIAT Chair may also hear cases alone or as part of a Panel.

For information, please review Practice Direction #19 – Hearing Assignments or Contact Us.

Adjournments and Withdrawals

An adjournment means that the hearing can’t proceed or be completed on its scheduled day. It will be rescheduled for another day.

A withdrawn appeal means that the appellant doesn’t want to continue with their appeal. We’ll close the appeal without a WSIAT decision on the merits. The final WSIB decision stands if the appeal is withdrawn.

For information, please review Practice Direction #23 – Adjournments and Withdrawals or Contact Us.

Hearings in Writing

For information on hearings in writing, please review Practice Direction #5 – Hearing Formats or Contact Us.