The standing committee on agencies, boards and commissions spent some time reviewing the role of the chairperson of the Workers' Compensation Board. The committee was interested to note that the final report of the 1989 review committee recommended, and I quote, that the position of the chairman be maintained as a full-time position for the first year, but that the new incumbent reduce his involvement over the next three years so that position can be performed on a part-time basis. The 1989 review committee also recommended that at the end of the chairperson's three year term, the Minister re-assess whether the position should be full or part time.
In its response to these recommendations, the Workers' Compensation Board indicated that the concept is an acceptable goal and it will be reviewed annually.
The standing committee on agencies, boards and commissions is of the opinion that the 1989 review committee's recommendations were well reasoned and appropriate at the time in which they were made. The role of the chairperson should never have been intended to evolve into a full-time permanent senior official. However, the stressful transition period in which the agency found itself in 1989 necessitated that the chairperson assume a full-time role to assist the general manager. Unfortunately, there is still a sense of transition which may, for the time being, require an additional period of full-time involvement and leadership by the chairperson. The Minister should assess whether or not the full-time services of a chairperson will be required over the course of the next year to 18 months. If so, this involvement should be scheduled to revert to a part-time position by the time a comprehensive amendment to the Workers' Compensation Act have completed all stages of review and passage, some time early in 1994.
Beyond meeting these short term operational needs, there should be no mistake that the position of chairperson on the Workers' Compensation Board should remain a part-time commitment. For that reason, the standing committee on agencies, boards and commissions is of the opinion that the act should stipulate that the chairperson is to serve a part-time function with the board. And so I come to the final recommendation of this section, Mr. Chairman.
Motion To Accept Recommendation 4, Carried
I move that the Workers' Compensation Act be amended to specify that the chairperson's duties will be equivalent to that of part-time employment.