When a claim is accepted, the WCB will begin paying benefits on that claim to the injured worker. There are several different types of benefits and services, designed to help you recover from your injury or illness as you return to work or to help keep you and your family secure from the impact of a workplace injury.
If you have questions about your benefits or payments, you can talk to your case worker securely using WCB Online.
For more information on how and when benefits are paid, please see the Claim Payment Processing Schedule.
Health Care Benefits
Health care costs related to your workplace injury or illness may be covered by the WCB. In general, the WCB covers costs for the following pre-approved services and personal equipment:
- Doctors
- Chiropractors
- Physiotherapists
- Surgery
- Prescriptions
- Dental expenses
- Other health care items (crutches, braces, artificial limbs, wheelchairs, etc., including maintenance and repair
- Repair or replacement of eyeglasses and dentures damaged when the injury occurred (conditions apply)
Note that your employer is responsible for paying for ambulance transportation to an appropriate health care facility at the time of the injury, if required.
Please talk to your case worker to determine if specific services are available to you.
Temporary Earnings Replacement Benefits
Most injuries don’t entirely prohibit you from working, and work can be an important factor in your recovery. Depending on your injury, you may be working in a different role or for fewer hours per week during your transition back to your regular duties. This can create a financial impact for you, and the WCB is here to provide support during this time through financial compensation.
Earnings replacement benefits are based on your earnings loss — the difference in your income before your injury, and after your injury.
In more than 90 per cent of cases, when you have an injury at work, you will return to work at your pre-injury earnings. As you recover, you will receive Temporary Earnings Replacement Benefits (TERB). These benefits are usually paid every two weeks at the following rates for as long as you are unable to return to your regular job.
The calculation works like this:
- 75% of your net earnings loss for up to 26 weeks after your injury occurs
- After 26 weeks the TERB increases to 85% of your net earnings loss
There is a waiting period before you can begin to receive earning-loss benefits from the WCB. This period is two-fifths (2/5) of your normal work week. The amount you would have earned during this period is taken off the first compensation payment. For example, if you usually work five days a week you would have two days’ worth of your net weekly benefit deducted from your first payment (2/5 x 5 days). If your loss of earnings is greater than 5 weeks, the deducted amount is reimbursed.
Long-Term Benefits
In the vast majority of workplace injuries, there is either no time loss at all or the worker returns to work within a few weeks at most. In some cases, the situation is more serious, and the impact of injury is more severe. In these cases, you may be eligible for Long-Term Benefits, and the WCB will still be available to support your recovery.
Once a permanent medical impairment has been established, your claim is transferred from WCB return-to-work teams to the Long-Term Benefits team. Your claim continues to be managed by case workers who know your claim and its history and they continue to provide the care you need.
In many cases, work may still be able to be part of your future, even if it looks very different than before. Perhaps you’re doing a different job or doing your old job with modifications. Or perhaps you’ve been retrained to do something totally new, and we can help with all of that, too. Your employer and your co-workers can play an important part in that process, but whether you’re able to work with your injury or not, the WCB is here to help.
There are two types of long-term benefits if the impact of your workplace injury is permanent: