The WSIB wants you to believe it is a modern, well-run, worker-friendly system. They have spent a lot of money lately trying to convince you of exactly that. As practitioners in this field for the better part of 20 years, allow us to offer a different view — one grounded in what we see happen to real Injured Workers every single day.

Consider the numbers the WSIB itself is proudly announcing:

• Another $2 billion in so-called “surplus” funds handed back to employers in the fall of 2025 — with the average business getting back roughly 61% of the premiums it paid.
• The 2026 average premium rate slashed to $1.23 per $100 of payroll — the WSIB brags this is the lowest in over 50 years.
• And an estimated $855,000 spent on a slick five-week television ad campaign — starring fictional injured workers happily returning to work.

Read that last one again. Nearly a million dollars on actors playing injured workers — while the real injured workers we represent are told there is “insufficient medical evidence,” have their benefits arbitrarily cut, or wait many months for a decision that should take weeks.

If There Is So Much “Surplus,” Where Is It For The Worker ?????

This is the question the WSIB never answers. If the fund is so healthy that it can return billions to businesses and cut premiums to a half-century low, then why are legitimate claims still being denied to “save money”? Why is there a confirmed backlog the WSIB quietly admitted to its own staff? Why did it take nearly 30 years just to propose raising loss-of-earnings benefits from 85% back toward where they used to be — a change worker advocates have rightly called “only half measures” and “far from enough”?

Even the union that represents WSIB’s own front-line staff said the ad money should have gone to staffing, shorter call wait times, and faster claim decisions. When the people who work inside the system are telling you it has its priorities backwards, it is time to listen.

A television commercial does not pay an Injured Worker’s rent. A premium rebate to an employer does not put food on the table of a worker who was hurt on the job and then denied. Public relations is not the same thing as justice.

YOU ARE NOT ALONE

If your claim has been denied, delayed, or your benefits cut — do not accept it as the final word.

Our message to Injured Workers is the same as it has always been: this is your system, funded to protect you. Keep fighting for the decision you deserve — and let us fight it with you.

Contact Sholdas and Associates today for a free consultation. We share your frustration, and we are here to help.