Hello all,
HMANL has been busy working on a variety of issues that have been impacting our industry in our province for the past several years. As you may have noted in some recent communications, HMANL members along with representatives of HNL met with the Newfoundland & Labrador Employers Council (NLEC). The purpose of the meeting was to gain an understanding of the regulations and processes to assist accommodators in their understanding of the WHSCC. NLEC is an association that has worked with WHSCC on many occasions and with their guidance and assistance HMANL is confident that some long-standing concerns and issues with WHSCC will be communicated and improved upon for the benefit of all HMANL and HNL members.
A formal position paper will be published shortly and circulated to all the membership in order for us to collect your feedback on this issue. Please stay tuned as it should be ready within the next couple of weeks. The next step after the postion paper is finalized is to present the issue during WHSCC Public Review that is due to take place this Spring. Every 5 years WHSCC conducts public reviews as a way to gather feedback from claimants and employers that will be taken into consideration when decisions are made to change or alter process and policy changes.
More importantly, a new development with the WHSCC public reviews is the opportunity for private meetings. HNL along with HMANL will request a private meeting to ensure the opinions of the hotel/tourism industry are heard, and it is strongly felt that WHSCC will agree to such a meeting as they are aware that issues exist and will welcome the feedback. The following key issues will be the primary focus that will be presented:
1. Problem with medical community, physicians do not provide adequate information or suggested treatments for modified work duties.
2. Return to work is not a priority for physicans and instead authorize the worker to not work at all.
3. Issues with WHSCC job classifications within the hotel industry and the effect it has on the rating system.
4. WHSCC process for achieving PRIME status is too onerous, and the reward requires more effort than what is rewarded.
Again stay tuned and we look forward to achieving our goals in order to alleviate the burden that WHSCC premiums have on all of our businesses.
Yours in hospitality,
Greg Fleming
