How to Win Your WCB Appeal by Knowing the Rules

Warning! This article may upset you.

I never read the rules to board games. As a kid, I just wanted to play. “We’ll figure it out as we go along”. That’s also because I was playing against my younger brother. I realized if I knew the rules and he “thought” he knew the rules, I was already in a good spot to win.

As the game went a long if it was clear that I was losing, I could simply come up with a compelling enough story of why the move he just made was illegal. Putting me back in a winning position.

This led to emotional arguments and outbursts, even brotherly fisticuffs.

When things changed

As we got older and my brother grew wiser, he demanded we read the rules before we started playing and held me accountable. Amazingly, since we were both on the same page with the rules, this led me to really understand how the game was played. It reduced arguments and led to better outcomes for the both of us.

It was actually fun!

How this information can help you now

As I sat in my office the other day speaking with a potential client who wanted WCB representation, I could hear the frustration in their voice. It reminded me of my younger brother when was upset because he felt I knew the rules better than he did. It was clear this person was frustrated with recent WCB decisions. I could also see how they were playing the game from how they “thought” the game was to be played.

Every claim they had seemed to be a long-drawn-out process where they wished they could go to fisticuffs with WCB. I could see flashbacks of the same feelings my brother must have felt. With a smile I simply stated: “What if I could teach you the WCB game so that you would win EVERY time?”

A quiet hush came on the phone. “You can do that?” my future client asked. “Let me show you.” I said.

Where you can find the rules to the game

What if I told you the rules to simplifying the WCB game are hiding in plain sight?

Often our emotions and lack of understanding cloud our ability to see exactly how to find the rules. The truth is, on every WCB website in Canada, you can find the rules. They are referred to as policies.

Every province has legislation or laws that have been passed by the provincial government. What WCB will do is it takes those laws and create policies and procedures from them. Whenever you are dealing with a WCB claim or appeal, you want to focus on the WCB policy. If you think of my example with my brother, think of WCB policy as rules to a board game.

If you want to know why WCB accepted or denied a claim you can go to the WCB website and using the search feature you can look up the WCB policy. It will give you details you can then compare to your situation to see what was missing for a claim to be accepted.

Another way, is to find the policy page and read the table of contents which says each part of a WCB claim. Often they will show you exactly where to go to read more. If you’re not comfortable with this, a person can call the WCB in their province, tell them you’re looking for policies on their website, and the agent on the phone can walk you through until you get to the policy you want.

Playing the WCB game

If you are already dealing with a WCB decision maker, you can ask them directly: “What policy did you look at when you made this decision?” They should tell you the exact policy number (eg. 137-B) as well as how they interpreted the meaning of the policy they used.

It’s very similar if you were playing the board game monopoly. The person you’re playing against passed “GO” and collected $200. If you questioned them…they should be able to grab the rules and show you where it says that passing “GO” entitles you to $200. It’s the same with WCB.

If you disagree with the policy used, or the interpretation, then you may have a basis for appeal. Each province has slight differences for appealing a WCB claim so check out the policies.

Read Next: Why Your WCB Program Sucks

How to help yourself and others

If you found any part of this article helpful, then I encourage you to please pass this along to a friend or colleague. Maybe it’s someone you don’t know. By simply sharing this article you could be helping someone in need that you never met, but you still made a difference in their lives. Let’s help our industries become better equipped to play the WCB game by sharing information that will help all of us.

Have a question you’d like answered? I would love to talk with you about WCB Training for your organization or business.

P.S. If I happened to upset you because my story of playing board games with my brother brought back terrible memories, my sincerest apologies. Both my brother and I have since matured and enjoy a friendly rivalry…once we both have read the rules.