Thursday, October 22, 2009

WCB Hostage taking could have been Prevented

October 21st ,2009 was not a great day in Edmonton Alberta, the hostage taking at Alberta’s Worker’s Compensation Board was a very depressing situation for the employees of WCB and for the injured worker and his family. In all reality "ALL" were the victims of WCB abuse, with their policies and practices to "Profit" (as they are a nonprofit organization) any way they can, which unfortunately leads the injured worker into poverty and loss of family, loss of home and sometimes suicide.
The man that did the hostage taking Patrick Clayton, was a man at the end of his rope, I would imagine he attempted every avenue of appeal within the WCB, as many of Alberta’s injured workers have done. After the appeals the only recourse of help is going to your MLA, to the Ombudsman, Premier, lawyers, media and protesting, as many injured workers have found out, each and every one of these last options are dead ends.

From my personal experiences with the WCB and the fight that I have been forced into, it has come to my realization that no matter what direction a person attempts to go, whether it is though the appeals process or just trying to get a claims manager to accept your Doctor’s report, it is a hassle. WCB staff and employers will and have attempted to close down an injury claim before it starts, to those that wish to ignore the actions of the WCB, like MLA Doug Griffiths and his P.C political party, we do have the proof.

I attempted to make Mr. Griffiths aware that all of the hostage taking could have been prevented, however each time I made a statement as to the abuse of the WCB he would twist my words into me claiming that the hostage taking was justified and continued to state that I have a twisted, terrorist mind an should seek physiological help, all for speaking out against the WCB and his political party that were the roots of the situation.

He kept asking for proof so I would direct him to websites with the information, his reply was give me something that he could verify, while the proof is in my possession; this went over and over repeatedly as if he and I were on the legislative floor wasting time continually repeating the words, as they so often do. By the end of the night which shortly after 12 am, I challenged Mr. Griffiths to prove me wrong, have an investigation into all that I stated about WCB or to prove me right by doing nothing as the Alberta legislature has done pertaining to the WCB for many years, decades in fact. Nearing the end of our conversation he informed me that he does not have the power to request an investigation, but he does have the power to present it on the floor of the legislative, which he refused to comment on and ended our conversation with an accusation that I need help, which he cannot give and mentioned that he wanted to know my name so he could find me the help I needed, and for me to go to bed as I need sleep more so then he did.

What I learned from this conversation is that anyone that speaks out against the WCB in this matter is considered a terrorist and after informing him that if the Alberta Legislative
had done their job properly years ago, that this situation would most likely not have happened, I was then again accused of being a twisted individual with a terrorist mind.

I had spent the day on the internet informing people that the WCB is not the victim here, they are the cause, with judicial powers and immunity to any court action, it is allowed free reign to do what ever they wish, I have talked with many about this organization from injured workers, advocates and lawyers and it is the same about the unfairness to the injured and one sidedness to the employer.
Justice MacLean: Alberta Court of Queens Bench has commented on the unfairness of the WCB, “This is not a level playing field, it is not fair, and it offends the basic principles of natural justice."

Yet this Alberta government allows this to keep going on, is it because they promote corruption or that the injured workers are a waste of their time and let fall into cracks of time and be forgotten?
The WCB has tactics of their own as well, from manipulating files, whether medical, financial or personal, they do it to justify their end goal of profit and savings for the employer, yet WCB is a non-profit organization with over a Billion in its account as of April 2009. There are many different tactics that they use as well, mainly the use of word manipulation, where if an injured worker questions an action of the WCB they are declared non-compliant and then all benefits are cut off until that person makes it to the appeals commission which can take up a year and some have gone a lot longer.
From deeming of employment to denial of doctors reports, they will do anything to the injured they wish, it is kiss their feet as (in their minds) they are holier then thou and if you don’t agree with that then you can no-longer come into our building as they will and have, written people up as a threat when no threatening actions have ever been made.

If all that isn’t enough to deter you from fighting for your rights, they will contact another arm’s length agency to also start harassing the injured worker. People should question how many injured workers have been forced to Social Assistance when it is the WCB’s responsibility to care for the injured worker, if nothing is done about this criminal organization the there most likely will be more situations like October 21st ,2009.

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