Summary

This bill amends The Workers' Compensation Act, 2013 to expand coverage and eligibility, including allowing non-resident workers employed by Saskatchewan employers to receive compensation when injured outside the province, extending coverage to wildland firefighters for presumed occupational diseases, and recognizing health care professionals licensed in other jurisdictions. The bill also addresses procedural matters such as allowing board members to complete hearings after their terms expire and requiring appeal decisions to be published in a manner prescribed by regulation.

The Workers' Compensation Amendment Act, 2024 makes several operational changes to how workers' compensation works in Saskatchewan. First, it expands who can receive compensation when injured while working outside Saskatchewan: previously only Saskatchewan residents or workers whose usual workplace was in Saskatchewan qualified, but now non-residents employed by Saskatchewan employers and approved by the board can also qualify. Second, it extends the presumption that certain cancers and heart injuries are work-related to wildland firefighters, not just structural firefighters. Third, it allows the board to recognize physicians, chiropractors, psychiatrists, and other health care professionals licensed in other provinces or countries when treating injured workers. The bill also allows board members to finish hearing cases they have started even after their terms expire, requires the board to publish appeal decisions in a manner set by regulation rather than at its own discretion, and permits the board to suspend compensation payments to injured workers incarcerated in correctional facilities outside Saskatchewan, not just within the province.