Anyone heard of the recent WSIB changes in Ontario?

wildbill7145wildbill7145
in Off Topic Lounge
Mandatory coverage in the construction industry

http://www.beregisteredbeready.ca/

I hadn't heard anything about this whatsoever until today when talking to a contractor around town who has given me a huge amount of work over the years.

Even if you have your own personal insurance, as an independent contractor or sub it appears now that you are obliged to register with wsib. This kind of sucks.

Comments

  • Irunit4timesIrunit4times
    Anyone in the industry who is in business for themselves are now required to provide their own WSIB coverage. Normally piece workers, plumbers, electricians, framers, drywallers, tapers etc would piece for a company who was registered with WSIB and covered they employees working. I guess they all fought back and said let them cover themselves so if they get hurt we wont have to waste our money so the pass the buck to the workers now. If you work hourly for a construcion company you do not need your own WSIB coverage as the company is still liable for you.

    This really only applies to single man shows and subcontractors. If they are a contractor that has employees full time, they require WSIB regardless.

    It does suck, but at the same time, some people abuse the WSIB coverage, get hurt and get paid, its win win for the worker, until now. The only thing that sucks in my opinion is that I am positive the piece work price for any of the construction they do is not adjusted to cover the fact they now have to pay for it themselves, just one more thing they have to pay for in order to work and less money taken home at the end of they day.
  • wildbill7145wildbill7145
    It's irritating for me as I have coverage already. As well, if I only worked for home owners on their own homes, I wouldn't have to worry about this at all. But if I work for property managers, landlords, businesses, other contractors I am now required. My situation is probably around 50/50 over the course of a year.

    More than once on the above linked sites, they indicate that part of the purpose of this is to alleviate the black market within the construction industry (i.e. cash work). The funny thing is that my estimate would be that 90% of the catchment group they're targeting aren't involved in this. If I work for a contractor, business, property manager, etc., I'm always submitting invoices and getting paid by check. I've never been offered cash once by these people. The only time I've ever been offered cash payment is by home owners who I'm working for directly. That's a game I don't bother getting involved with, never have.

    This is going to have a pretty significant impact on small self employed guys like myself. My contractor friend I was talking to today says he's basically going to cut out roughly 10% of his business as that's what he estimates involves working for non-homeowners.

    More than once we've talked about how it's almost becoming not worth it to be self employed in construction, time to hang up the tools and look for a 'real job'.

    Anyhoo, very frustrating.
  • CerberusCerberus
    While I can honestly say that you're an upstanding person Bill, so you don't engage in those types of shenannigans, I don't think as many others in your field are. Thus, the new law. Not saying I agree or disagree but that I understand the reasoning.

    Basically, we need more you :)
  • wildbill7145wildbill7145
    Oh believe me I know there's a lot of it going on across the board in the construction industry, however I believe it's most prevalent in guys working for individual homeowners who they're specifically excluding with these changes. However, I'm not saying there aren't dirty contractors and subs out there burying invoices, doing cash jobs, etc.

    I don't get involved in the cash game because that's what it is. I've seen it hundreds of times where someone says they'll give you cash expecting a discount. When the jobs done though, they've forgotten to go to the bank, etc. etc.

    I just don't like the fact they're burying intentions of reducing the cash industry within an auspice of "It's because we care."

    Thanks though Cerb. You deserve a cookie.
Sign In or Register to comment.
HomeDiscussionsToggle Dark Mode