The Workers Compensation Act (Act) has been revised by British Columbia’s Office of the Legislative Counsel as part of a standard statute revision process under the Statute Revision Act. The editorial changes to language, and renumbering of sections, parts, and divisions of the Act, come into effect on April 6, 2020.

At issue in this consultation were the consequential revisions required for the policies in the Rehabilitation Services & Claims Manual, Volume II (RS&CM, Volume II), to ensure they continue to reflect the legislation.

As a result of some of the revisions to the Act, some of the consequential revisions to the RS&CM policies appear to be more substantial than simple housekeeping amendments. Policies reliant on spent provisions or on provisions that have been rearranged and restructured have necessarily been revised accordingly, but there is no change in the substance of the applicable law or policy.

Because of the broad impact of the anticipated changes, the Policy, Regulation and Research Division released a discussion paper explaining the proposed consequential amendments to the RS&CM, Volume II to stakeholders for information and comment.

Proposed deletions of policy wording are identified with a strikethrough and additions are identified in highlighted bold.

Discussion paper

There were a number of ways for stakeholders to provide feedback on the draft policy consequential amendments:

The consultation period ended on March 2, 2020. WorkSafeBC’s Board of Directors will consider stakeholder feedback before making a decision.

Please note that all comments become part of the Policy, Regulation and Research Division’s database and may be published, including the identity of organizations and those participating on behalf of organizations. The identity of those who have participated on their own behalf will be kept confidential according to the provisions of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.