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 dependants and employers. We do not review or overturn decisions. Instead, we focus on the experiences of clients leading up to those decisions. Our priority is to deliver timely and meaningful action while ensuring fairness and organizational accountability.

In 2024, 217 inquiries were received and 221 closed (closures include inquiries carried over from the previous year). Most of these inquiries were initiated by workers.

We identified three main themes in the fairness concerns raised to our office in 2024:

  • Communication timeliness and completeness or clarity of communication: Clients were unclear about the decision-making process, didn’t believe their concern was appropriately addressed or felt communication was delayed.

  • Process consistency and timeliness: Clients perceived the pace of decision-making or procedural steps as slow.

  • Navigation to decision review process: Clients raised issues as fairness concerns that, after evaluation, were determined to be inquiries better suited for the decision review process.

When the FPRC receives an inquiry from a client, our team provides the following four stages of support:

Education, support and navigation

Most of these resolutions were decision-related concerns and as a result are more appropriately handled through the decision review process. When appropriate, the FPRC advises clients to seek advocacy services from the external Advisor Office for Alberta Workers’ Compensation.

✓ We helped 139 clients navigate to the appropriate process or resource to address their concerns.

On average, these inquiries were resolved in 26 days from the date the client contacted our office.

Early resolution

In early resolution cases, we found that clients had not yet raised their concern with the appropriate operational levels, as outlined in WCB’s Code of Rights and Conduct. Our team clarified their concerns and desired outcomes, then collaborated with WCB’s operational teams to achieve resolution

✓ We negotiated successful early resolution for 40 clients.

On average, these inquiries were resolved in 18 days from the date of referral to our claims management teams.

Complex issue investigation

In cases where a client’s concerns were not resolved through the first two stages of education, support and navigation or early resolution, the FPRC investigates the concerns and interactions with the operational 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.

✓ We also completed thorough complex issue investigations for 42 clients.

On average, these investigations were completed in 105 days from the date of assignment.

When we find a gap in service, we share our findings and recommendations with the respective supervisors and managers to support their coaching and staff development efforts. Of the 42 complex issue investigations in 2024, we identified recommendations in 14 cases. Recommended actions may include:

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.

In 2024, our FPRC team provided meaningful support to clients. We collaborated with WCB to improve overall service without the need for system-level recommendations. Our team looks forward to continuing to provide this important service for our clients. 

Rebecca Hayes, fairness review officer