Coquitlam man Giorgio Cima hasn鈥檛 once been interviewed by , yet his claim for workers' compensation was rejected in a case his lawyer described as 鈥渙utrageous.鈥�
Fort Nelson resident Bruce Erskine remains hobbled by a forklift accident more than eight years ago, but his WorkSafeBC claim remains unresolved.
These two cases have prompted the NDP鈥檚 WorkSafeBC critic, , to call for a review of the organization.
Simpson was reacting to two recent B.C. Supreme Court decisions that found the decisions by the 鈥� the independent body that hears appeals of WorkSafeBC rulings鈥攚ere 鈥減atently unreasonable鈥� in denying the claims made by Cima and Erskine.
鈥淭he system is far too litigious,鈥� Simpson said. 鈥淭his can go on for years鈥f you鈥檙e dealing with corporation to corporation, that鈥檚 one thing鈥ut when you鈥檙e talking about individuals and their families and they鈥檙e worried about their income and families, it鈥檚 got to work a different way."
, who represented Cima pro bono, said he believes many people with genuine workplace injuries that merit compensation, simply throw their hands up and walk away because they can鈥檛 afford to hire a lawyer or pay for medical experts to back their claim.
鈥淚f they don鈥檛 have a mental condition before they enter the system, they surely do shortly thereafter,鈥� he said.
TOXIC WORKPLACE
Antibiotics were flowing into the vein in Giorgio Cima鈥檚 right arm at a clinic in downtown Vancouver when his lawyer phoned to deliver some good news.
It was Wednesday, May 25, and the and set aside a decision by the Workers鈥� Compensation Appeal Tribunal that rejected his claim.
鈥淔inally, someone believed in me,鈥� Cima wrote in an email to Black Press about the decision. He said it brought tears to his eyes and some hope to his family.
His supervisor at Delta鈥檚 Intact Distributors had been bullying him, Cima claims, specifically after an illness robbed him of his speech in 2012 and he began to communicate with e-mail and text messages. (Cima was previously diagnosed with the fatal neurological disease ALS, or Lou Gehrig鈥檚 Disease, but is now undergoing treatment for Lyme disease, whose symptoms mimic ALS.)
The situation came to a dramatic head on Christmas Day in 2013.
As he sat down for dinner with family and friends, he received a shocking text message from his boss, who called him a 鈥渞etard鈥� and a 鈥渃rayon-eating motherf**ker.鈥�
WorkSafeBC denied his claim for compensation, and when he appealed, the tribunal said in its ruling that the supervisor didn鈥檛 intend to 鈥渋ntimidate, humiliate or degrade鈥� Cima.
He has been reflecting since the court set aside that ruling, and is hopeful he鈥檒l soon get better news about his claim.
鈥淚 was shocked to find that an organization that should be there for workers is in fact more for the employer,鈥� wrote Cima, who has worked in Canada for more than 25 years. 鈥淭he fact that they didn鈥檛 interview me or contact me to this date supports that.鈥�
Anderson said he agreed to represent Cima because it was 鈥渙ne of the most outrageous鈥� cases he鈥檇 ever come across.
鈥淚f his case didn鈥檛 meet the standard for workplace bullying and harassment, there is no standard,鈥� he said.
INJURY, FIGHT TAKE TOLL
On the same day Cima was sitting inside that downtown Vancouver clinic,
But Bruce Erskine, 63, didn鈥檛 view his win as good news.
Back in 2008, he was run over by a forklift driven by his boss at Skinner Bros. Transport in Fort Nelson.
鈥淚 thought he cut me in half,鈥� Erskine recalled of the forklift knocking him to the ground and its tire crushing his left foot as his leg was pulled under the counterweight.
WorkSafeBC denied his claim for compensation, he said, because a doctor chalked his injury up to soreness from pushing an ATV weeks earlier and not the forklift after an initial X-ray suggested his foot was merely strained.
But eight months later, Erskine鈥檚 foot still hadn鈥檛 healed.
It wasn鈥檛 until 2014, four specialists later, that a different type of X-ray revealed an injury that another doctor attributed to the forklift accident.
He appealed to the tribunal, but the body refused to admit the new medical evidence, saying Erskine was not credible.
In May, the court ordered the tribunal to take a second look, saying that line of reasoning was 鈥減atently unreasonable.鈥�
But the judge didn鈥檛 bring him any closer to his goal of getting WorkSafeBC to review how its staff handled his case and revoke their credentials.
The words of a WorkSafeBC claim manager many years ago infuriate him to this day.
鈥淗e told me on the phone, 鈥業f we had to look after people like you, we would be bankrupt overnight,'鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey think they can walk over and step on people.鈥�
WORKSAFEBC SAYS SYSTEM WORKS
Scott McCloy, spokesperson for WorkSafeBC, said he was unable to comment on the two cases, noting that both legal matters are ongoing.
WorkSafeBC and its staff 鈥渨ork hard to get decisions right the first time,鈥� he said, and both the appeal tribunal and B.C. Supreme Court are in place 鈥渢o ensure justice can be done.鈥�
McCloy denied that WorkSafeBC is an adversarial system, and said it鈥檚 actually an 鈥渋nquiry-based system.鈥�
He said sometimes facts are obvious, but in some cases 鈥渋ssues are highly complex. Often people try to make them simple, but they鈥檙e not.鈥�
