Legal Rights of Employee On Long Term Disability In Ontario

In Ontario, any employees receiving long term disability benefits lack the ability to function in the workplace for a certain period of time, normally a minimum of 2 years. Workers that qualify for that status need to satisfy certain obligations.

The duty of any employee in Ontario that is getting long term disability benefits is that they need to apply for Canada Pension Plan disability benefits. This can be done on your own or hire the expert services of an injury lawyer in Waterloo.

The one situation that would allow an employer to terminate a permanently disabled employee.

The employer must offer proof of the fact that the disabled employee is unlikely to return to the workplace at any time in the future. Only after coming forward with such proof, can an employer terminate a worker that has qualified for long term disability (LTD) coverage.

Employers have no legal right to suggest an alternate cause for termination, prior to terminating a worker that has come to rely on LTD benefits. The employer’s proof must equal in value the opinion of a known expert. That expert must have gained expertise in an area of medicine that relates to the disabled employee’s specific medical problem.

What can happen if an employer fires a permanently disabled worker without obtaining the required paper/proof?

In such a situation, the employer would be told that he or she had carried out an illegal action. The employer would then get punished in 2 ways. First, the termination would be declared invalid. As a result, the employer would come under pressure to continue with delivery of the disabled worker’s LTD benefits.

The second punishment would address the investment made by the worker that had chosen to address his or her unlawful termination. That investment had taken the form of money and effort, which were used to pursue the avenue provided by litigation. The employer would need to reimburse the legal costs of the unlawfully terminated employee.

Why does the government provide employers in Ontario with so few options, with respect to firing a permanently disabled worker?

All workers must apply for Canada Pension Plan disability benefits after having qualified for LTD coverage from the insurance company. The government runs the Pension Plan. In other words, the government has shown a willingness to consider coverage of any disabled worker that has paid into the Pension Plan.

In light of the fact that the government requires an assessment of each disabled worker’s ability to qualify for the Pension Plan’s offerings, it feels compelled to regulate employers’ actions, with respect to permanently disabled workers. The government’s regulation has taken the form of a law that declares when and how any employees receiving LTD payments can be terminated. Employers that have refused to comply with the law, face the established consequences.