Relief of Cost

Application for relief of cost on a claim is one area where you can attempt to reduce the cost of an employee claim on your experience rating. In order to meet the threshold for approval, there has to be a pre-existing medical condition that would delay the employee’s recovery and return to work.

If accepted, claim costs (health care costs, lost time wages paid to the employee) are not attributed to an employee’s experience rating, so the savings can be substantial.

Application can be sought to WCB, or WCB can accept a claim under special consideration, however it is important for employers to ensure these costs are directly attributed to their claim cost statements.

Canstar Restorations

We were proactively reviewing a file for this client based on the WCB’s decision to end wage loss benefits for an employee. Upon reviewing the file disclosure, we noted that the medical information contained in the file identified a pre-existing condition.

In the initial appeal, relief of costs had been denied on this file by the WCB case manager and the opportunities for appeal had long since lapsed. We applied for special consideration of an extension of time relating to the prior relief of costs decision. The employer was granted an extension and the claim file was sent back to the WCB board for a secondary review of relief of costs. Subsequently WCB granted the review and Canstar was provided 100% relief of claim costs on the file, resulting in claim cost savings of over $25,765.