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Wilfully failing to report a WSIB material change requires intent to receive unentitled benefits.
Three injured workers appealed convictions or acquittal reversals under section 149(2) of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997, which makes it an offence to wilfully fail to inform the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board of a material change in circumstances affecting entitlement to benefits.
The Court of Appeal clarified the mens rea requirement for this offence, holding that the Crown must prove the accused knew of a material change, intended not to inform the Board, and either intended to receive unentitled benefits or foresaw such receipt as substantially certain.
The court restored one acquittal and ordered new trials for two convictions.
The court found the defendant unfit to stand trial due to conversion disorder and suspended the provincial offences proceedings.
The defendant was charged under section 149(2) of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act with willfully failing to inform the WSIB of a material change in circumstances affecting his benefit entitlement.
Following a workplace accident in 2006 resulting in a temporal bone fracture, the defendant received benefits that were subsequently denied on appeal, leaving him subject to a potential repayment obligation exceeding half a million dollars.
During trial, the defendant collapsed in court, prompting a referral for fitness assessment under section 44 of the Provincial Offences Act.
The court found the defendant unfit to stand trial based on psychiatric evidence of conversion disorder and chronic post-traumatic stress disorder, and ordered the proceedings suspended.
