Effective March 3, 2003, the Workers Compensation Act was amended to provide that WorkSafeBC may not reconsider a decision or order if more than 75 days had elapsed since that decision or order was made or a review or appeal had been filed.

At issue were two policies in the Assessment Manual that provided that a decision to change a firm's classification did not constitute a reconsideration of a decision and therefore the 75-day time limit did not apply.

A recent referral from a Workers' Compensation Appeal Tribunal (“WCAT”) Vice Chair to the Chair of WCAT on this issue triggered a review of the policies. Specifically, the Vice Chair determined that the 75-day time limit on reconsiderations should apply where WorkSafeBC identified that a classification had been assigned to an employer in error and the employer's operations had not changed since the original decision.

Consultation closed September 14, 2007.