A message from Rebecca Hayes, Fairness Review Officer
The Fair Process Review Centre (FPRC) is an independent office at WCB that reviews administrative fairness complaints from workers, their dependents and employers. The FPRC was created to ensure WCB provides injured workers and employers with service that is respectful, fair and timely. The FPRC does not review or overturn decisions but focuses on clients’ experiences leading up to those decisions. To ensure our fairness review function is neutral, impartial and independent, as the Fairness Review Officer I report functionally to the Board of Directors—specifically to the audit committee—and administratively to the President & CEO.
When a client raises an inquiry with the FPRC, our priority is to deliver timely and meaningful action while ensuring fairness and organizational accountability.
The main fairness concerns raised to our office in 2023 are captured by two themes:
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Communication timeliness and completeness or clarity of communication: Often these communication concerns centered on process or service expectations.
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Process timeliness: Clients raise these concerns when the pace of decision-making or procedural steps seemed slow or delayed from their perspectives.
When the FPRC identifies gaps in service, we make recommendations to the operations management team to address and resolve these issues. These may include apologies for gaps in communication or detailed information and letters of explanation.
Inquiries in 2023 included:
* Closure volume is a rolling total and includes inquiries initiated in previous months.
The team provides four stages of support to clients:
Navigation
On average, these inquiries were resolved in 15 days from the date the client contacted our office.
Most of these closures reflect clients approaching the FPRC with concerns related to claim decisions and are most appropriately addressed through the decision review process. When appropriate, the FPRC recommends the advocacy services of the external Advisor Office for Alberta Workers’ Compensation.
Early resolution
On average, these inquiries were resolved in 14 days from the date of referral to Customer Service.
In these cases, the client approached the FPRC with a fairness concern they had not yet raised with the appropriate operational levels (as outlined in WCB’s Code of Rights and Conduct). The FPRC facilitates clarification around the client’s concerns and their desired resolution and works with WCB’s customer service teams to achieve resolution.
Complex issue investigation
On average, these investigations were completed in 66 days from the date of assignment.
In cases where a client’s concerns were not resolved through the navigation and early resolution process, the FPRC investigates the concerns and interactions with the claim management team. This typically occurs on claims and issues that are considerably more complex and longstanding; these cases often involve multiple levels of WCB management review.
When we find a gap in service, we also share our findings and recommendations with the respective supervisors and managers to support their coaching and staff development efforts. Of the 38 complex issue investigations in 2023, recommendations were identified in 15 cases.
No system-level recommendations were required in 2023.
Ombudsman referral
At the conclusion of each investigation, we advise clients that they can also raise concerns about their review to the Alberta Ombudsman’s office. This is the final level of review for administrative fairness concerns.
It is the goal of the FPRC to ensure people feel heard and their fairness concerns are addressed appropriately and transparently. WCB’s Fairness Review Mandate outlines the authority, mandate, jurisdiction and reporting relationship of the fairness review officer.
My team looks forward to continuing to provide this important service for our clients.
Rebecca Hayes, Fairness Review Officer