- Strains and sprains (knee)
- Suitable employment (factors other than physical capability) (tools or equipment)
- Loss of earnings {LOE} (eligibility) (impairment)
- Suitable employment (modified duties)
The worker was a driver and operated a stand-up tugger for a recycling operation. The worker reported a right knee injury that occurred on June 6, 2022. The employer appealed the following issues: a) whether the worker's initial entitlement to benefits for the right knee sprain/strain injury should be rescinded; and, b) whether the worker's LOE benefits should be rescinded because of the suitability of modified work offered by the employer.
The Vice-Chair denied the employer's appeal.The WSIB's policy sets out the "five-point check system" that a ruling on initial entitlement must have five points: an employer, a worker, personal work-related injury, proof of accident, and compatibility of diagnosis to accident history. The Vice-Chair found that all of these requirements for initial entitlement were met.Further, the worker was entitled to LOE benefits because the offer of modified work was not safe or suitable in the circumstances.The worker was not provided the required equipment to perform the modified work of online training modules, and it was not suitable because the worker did not have access to computer equipment except when he borrowed it for a few hours on June 14, 2022. There was no indication that the employer made any alternative arrangements for the worker to complete the online training modules, with accommodation for access and computer literacy issues raised in the worker's email communications. It was also not reasonable for the employer to suggest that the worker should travel to the library because the worker was advised to rest the knee and not walk.The Vice-Chair found that the worker as a visitor to a library would not be covered under the safe work provisions of the WSIB's OPM Document No. 19-02-07. The expectation that the worker complete the modified work at a local library rendered the modified work unsuitable, given the worker's inability or limited ability to walk and his lack of the required equipment to perform the modified work.