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Injured Immigrant Women Workers and Compensation INJURED IMMIGRANT WOMEN WORKERS ENTANGLED IN COMPENSATION POLICY INJURED IMMIGRANT WOMEN WORKERS ENTANGLED IN COMPENSATION POLICY By MARIA MERCEDES SAPICO MORRO BA (Hons.)/BSW (Lakehead University) A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Social Work McMaster University © Copyright by Maria Mercedes Sapico Morro, December 2011 MASTER OF SOCIAL WORK (2011) McMaster University (Social Work) Hamilton, Ontario TITLE: INJURED IMMIGRANT WOMEN WORKERS ENTANGLED IN COMPENSATION POLICY AUTHOR: Maria Mercedes Sapico Morro, BA (Hons.), BSW (Lakehead University) SUPERVISOR: Dr. Ann Fudge Schormans NUMBER OF PAGES: x, 117 ii ABSTRACT Every year, thousands of Women of Colour who are employed in precarious work conditions and low-paying jobs become even more marginalized after experiencing work- related injuries or illnesses because they are not able to obtain just compensation from Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB). Almost 100 years ago, Sir William Meredith (1913) attempted to establish an equitable workers’ compensation system in Ontario, one that placed the welfare of injured workers at the forefront of its policies and practices. Many changes to this system have been made over the decades; however, the most drastic shifts have transpired in the past 25 years: As a result of the influence of neoliberal forces, the workers’ compensation system has come to resemble a private market-based insurance model, focused more on costs than the welfare of workers. This shift has important ramifications for injured workers more generally and injured immigrant women workers in particular. Using Dorothy E. Smith’s institutional ethnography approach, this research explicates how the policies of the Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Act (WSIA)— originally created to promote health and safety—are implicated in textually mediated relations of ruling in Ontario’s workers’ compensation system. This was achieved by interviewing four immigrant women who had experienced work-related injuries and accidents. Beginning with the standpoints of the women, their everyday experiences of the problematic were mapped to the relevant texts; namely, the WSIA, the New Experimental Experience Rating (NEER), and Merit Adjusted Premium (MAP) Programs and the WSIB’s Forms 6, 7, and 8. iii The research illustrates how work-related injuries have resulted in the immense social, emotional, moral, financial and physical degradation of the participants. The findings point to an important relationship between the contents of the texts and the adverse experiences of the participants: The texts strongly influence the ways that employers, WSIB service providers, health care providers, and legal and consultancy professionals respond to injured immigrant women workers. And, as a result, the texts both influence the women’s experiences of the system and direct the actions that they themselves must take in very specific ways. This study involved four participants and examined the experiences of this group of injured immigrant women workers about whose experiences of the workers’ compensation system little is known. Although the information that they provided was strong and supported what is already known about how other groups of injured workers experience the workers’ compensation system, the small number of participants suggest that additional research with a larger group of participants is warranted. In addition, because the women’s employers were not interviewed, this research presents only one side of the picture; research that addresses the influence of these texts on the experiences and actions of employers, WSIB service providers, health care providers, and legal and consultancy professionals would add further to our knowledge. iv In these days of social and industrial unrest it is, in my judgment, of the gravest importance to the community that every proved injustice to any section or class resulting from bad or unfair laws should be promptly removed by the enactment of remedial legislation and I do not doubt that the country whose Legislature is quick to discern and prompt to remove injustice will enjoy, and that deservedly, the blessing of industrial peace and freedom from social unrest. (Meredith, 1913, p. 22) In referring to the legislation of this Province my reference is to the act called the Workmen’s Compensation for Injuries Act, which is erroneously so styled, for it is really an employers’ liability act. (p. 10) By Honourable Sir William Ralph Meredith Dated at Osgoode Hall, Toronto, the 31st day of October, 1913 v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr. Ann Fudge Schormans, whose advice, guidance, support, and encouragement have helped me immensely with the formulation and completion of this thesis. I would also like to thank Dr. Christina Sinding, my second reader, whose understanding and appreciation for institutional ethnography guided me through the analysis of this thesis. Thank you to the faculty and staff of the McMaster School of Social Work, who have had a significant impact on my personal and profession growth. I would like to express my gratitude to Professor Sheila Sammon, my adviser, for her guidance and to Dr. Stephanie Baker Collins for her support and advocacy during challenging times. Thank you also to Darlene Savoy, who was always available when I needed assistance and support. I would like to thank McMaster University for the scholarships that I received, including the Ashbaugh Graduate Scholarship. Thank you to all of my fellow graduate students who have made my journey unforgettable and whose support and friendship I will always value. I would also like to thank my family and friends for their prayers, support, and understanding as I completed this thesis. Thank you to Rosin Bhanji, my friend and inspiration, who encouraged me while I was completing my graduate studies and thesis. Thank you also to my friends Neesha Hussain and Si Ketenci, who proofread my work and shared their ideas with me, and to Linda Pasmore, who helped immensely in the final stages and completion of this work. Thank you to the members of the Injured Workers Consultants and The Research Action Alliance on the Consequences of Work Injury for providing me with resources and support, especially Orlando Buonastella, Marion Endicott, Katherine Lippel, Steve Mantis, Stephanie Premji, and Robert Storey. Finally, thank you to the four women who took part in this study and shared their life stories. Despite the physical and emotional pain that they live with every day and every night, they have shown their resistance and are the inspiration behind this work. Throughout my life and especially during my graduate studies, I thank the Lord who is most gracious. vi DEDICATION To the memory of my mother, Marciana Garcia Sapico, and my father, Pedro Sotelo Morro, for their unconditional love. To my husband, Andrew William Field, for his incredible support and encouragement. Finally, to the countless women who leave their impoverished homelands and settle in industrialized countries to fulfil their dreams for a better life, and especially to the four Women of Colour who took part in this study; this is your story. I hope to do justice to your plight and allow your silenced voices to be heard. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION........................................................................................1 CHAPTER 2: HISTORICAL OVERVIEW ........................................................................6 Pre-Meredith Era ..........................................................................................................6 Post-Meredith Era.........................................................................................................9 Contemporary State of Policy: The NEER.................................................................16 Experience Rating Programs ......................................................................................17 Impact of Experience Rating on Actions of Employers .............................................18 Claims Management............................................................................................18 Work Injuries and Benefit Costs .........................................................................18 Discriminatory Hiring Practices ..........................................................................19 Employers and Injured Workers Speak: Experience Rating Behind the Scenes........20 Coordinating Actions...........................................................................................20 Stigmatization and Mental Health .......................................................................21 Rapid Return to Work .........................................................................................22 Modified Work Accommodations.......................................................................23 More Claims Control...........................................................................................24 Challenges of Immigrant Women .......................................................................25 Insights Into Experience Rating From Experts ...................................................27 Occupational Health and Safety ..........................................................................27 Violation of Worker’s Privacy and Confidentiality ............................................28 Creation of an Adversarial System......................................................................28
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