A complainant reported he had a sizable overpayment of compensation benefits levied against him by the Workers’ Compensation Board.
An Ombudsman investigation found the WCB policy governing the forgiveness of overpayments unfairly restricted the discretion allowed for in the Workers’ Compensation Act.
The policy stated the WCB could only forgive overpayments under $100, while the Act itself made no such restriction.
The WCB accepted the Ombudsman’s recommendation that the policy be changed, and also agreed to review the calculation of the complainant’s overpayment based on the revised policy.