Return-to-work plan (workers’ compensation)

A buyer meets this when the target has a worker who is off work or on changed duties after a workplace injury. The business may carry duties toward that worker, and the WSIB may ask what has been done. This entry covers Ontario only; check the rules where you are. For claims on a sale, see what happens to existing WSIB claims when a business is sold.

What the Ontario Act says

• Section 40(1): the employer co-operates in the worker’s early and safe return to work, including by contacting the worker as soon as possible after the injury and keeping up communication through recovery. Subject to exceptions in section 40(3) and (4), which cover construction and emergency workers.
• Section 40(1)(c): the employer gives the WSIB the information it asks for about the worker’s return to work.
• Section 41(1): an employer whose worker, employed continuously for at least one year on the date of injury, has been unable to work because of it must offer to re-employ the worker in accordance with that section. Subject to the exception in section 41(2) for smaller employers and prescribed classes of employers.
• Section 86(1): if the WSIB decides an employer failed to comply with section 40, it may levy a penalty.

What to ask

Ask the seller which workers are off work or on changed duties, what the WSIB has requested and what was sent. The WSIB’s re-employment policy refers to its “Functional Abilities Form for Planning Early and Safe Return to Work”, so ask whether one is on file for each such worker, and whether any penalty or dispute is open.