Roger-Luc Chayer
Hell is paved with good intentions! Do you know the proverb? This is what comes to mind as I get ready to tell you about the hell that Mario, a work-related accident worker from Montreal, has experienced.
After injuring his shoulder, Mario found himself at the CNESST (Commission des normes, de l’énergie, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail) and according to the law on industrial accidents, “A worker victim of an accident is entitled to the benefits provided for by this law. And still according to this law, Mario was entitled to medical care, treatment, assistive medical devices if necessary, etc. However, after having undergone two expertises, including one in orthopedics at the request of the CNESST, it was determined, thanks to the magnetic resonance exams, that his shoulder was irreparable, an operation was therefore necessary.
While waiting for a consultation with an orthopedist specializing in his case, the CNESST has not stopped contacting him several times a week, always via different agents, and the organization insists on consolidating his injury, in other words to close his file, even before he was operated or, at least, treated medically. He feels harassed and is considering the possibility of hiring a specialist lawyer, but the $ 2,000 fee to open a case makes him hesitate.
On September 21, a new telephone call from the CNESST urged him to accept $ 1,000 to close his case and, while he was awaiting a legal opinion, out of spite and anxious about all this harassment, he decided to » accept the offer, just not to hear about it again.
Mario’s case is not unique, the hell suffered by many workers injured in the workplace facing the CNESST is commonplace and many injured abandon their recourse because in addition to suffering from their accident, treatment or illness. professionally, they have to deal with harassing behavior, which leads to discouragement.
However, Mario had remedies and could hope for a better settlement of his case, according to a lawyer consulted by Gay Globe. First of all, it is important to know that any injured worker with an income of less than $ 34,321 gross per year may be entitled to legal aid for a simple contribution of $ 100 to $ 800. Legal fees are then covered, as are expert fees, which are often between $ 1,700 and $ 3,000.
Still according to our lawyer-consultant, without having seen Mario’s entire file, he is of the opinion that Mario could have received between $ 10,000 and $ 50,000 more if the file had gone to the administrative labor tribunal and his case had been the subject of an expert report establishing a percentage of nearly 5% in permanent damage, not to mention compensation for years of medical treatment and the loss of part of his work income.
Unfortunately, in Mario’s case, he would only have accepted a sum of $ 1,000 corresponding to a 1% capacity loss when he could hardly use his injured arm anymore.