Chapter 20

Shannon and I had just finished our lunch sitting in the small coffee shop two blocks down from our office building and started to walk back to the office when we ran into Jim and a couple of the accounting types he worked with. They were in a heated discussion about tax shelters from the sounds of it. I just grinned at Shannon and followed along behind them. They still had not spotted us when we walked into the building; Jim was explaining how foreign investments seemed like a good thing in the short term but would hurt you in the long run as they walked into the small convenience store in the lobby. Shannon and I continued along to the elevators laughing about how passionate they had gotten while they were talking about boring stuff like that.

We got off the elevator on our floor and Shannon gave me a peck on the cheek as she walked to her office. When I got to the reception area by my office I noticed a man sitting in one of the chairs waiting for someone. He looked very uncomfortable and to be in a lot of pain. He had a neck brace on and his left arm was in a sling. Along side him was a young lady with a file folder in her hand; I recognized her from the human resources dept. I do not think we were ever introduced.

"Hello are you waiting for me?" I asked.

"Yes sir" she answered with an apologetic look "Mr. Samson here demanded to talk with you about his case"

"Ok why don't we go into my office and see what it is I can help you with" I said.

I watched as Mr. Samson slowly stood and limped into my office followed by the human resources lady.

"Let's start with some introductions; I am John McDonald" I offered and extended my hand.

Mr. Samson responded with "I am Pete Samson taking my hand in a firm grip.

I turned and offered my hand to the human resources lady "I am sorry I don't think we have ever been introduced"

"Sara Roberts" She said daintily shaking my hand.

"Now what is it I can do for you Pete" I asked looking at Pete as he adjusted himself in the chair to find a comfortable position.

"John I got hurt on the job about two months ago and have been on WCB since that time. I do not know if you realize how WCB works but I would like to explain my situation and see if there is anything you or the company can do to help me and my family" Pete blurted out nervously.

"I have never had anything to do with WCB before so why don't you relax and start at the beginning and we will see what we can do" I said to Pete.

"As I said before I got hurt at work in High Level at the mill and was looked after very well by the company; I then ended up on WCB and they have just started to get me back to work for couple of hours per day. Now when you first go on WCB they pay you 75% of your wages tax free up to a maximum so as a tradesman you make the maximum which is slightly more money then if you were working; but you also have higher expenses than when you are working. Now when you go back to work for a graduated return as they call it they take the Gross pay you receive from your job and subtract that from what WCB's payment would be. Unfortunately you are taxed on the amount you make at your job" Pete said taking a breath.

I nodded as he was speaking listening intently. Pete past over some papers he had inside his sling.

"These are the check stubs from before I was hurt through to the last one I received last week" he explained as I looked them over he continued. "As you can see I have taken a huge cut in wages over the past couple of weeks because of trying to get back to work. I can't put in a full day of work yet as I can only sit in one place for a short period of time and then I need to have a rest. Now I understand that this is not really your problem but I am like most people and I lived according to what I made before I got hurt and I still have the same payments and bills as I did when I was making good money"

There was a catch in his speech and I looked up from the check stubs to see him obviously ashamed of having to ask for help this way.

"Sir I just can not afford to go to work at this rate of pay and when I explained this to WCB they informed me that I was required to work any hours I was able or I would forfeit any WCB benefits I am receiving." Pete said.

I looked up and said "Pete don't you worry about a thing I am sure we will fix this and I am glad you have brought this to my attention. Now I am going to get some people in here that know a lot more about this stuff than I do and we will have this fixed. Is there anything I can get you to drink while everyone gets here" I asked as I reached for the phone.

"Thank you sir; I was starting to wonder if anything would happen when I was treated so badly by the human resource people here" Pete said with a look at Sara.

"I don't think you were treated badly MR. SAMSON, as I explained to you before it is out of our hands and in the hands of the people at the WCB. I gave you their phone number and even went as far as to offer you the use of one of our offices to call them from" Sara said acidly.

I sat there stunned at this.

"As I explained to you this morning I have already talked to WCB and they were no help at all" Pete responded in a strained measured voice.

"I would like to think we would look after our employees better than that especially after they have been hurt doing work for us" I said to Sara.

"Sir with all due respect; Mr. Samson is not really our employee at this time he is an employee of the WCB until he is back to work full time" Sara explained to me.

"Well I beg to differ with you about that he is our employee and he has been physically injured in the line of duty, for you and the WCB to try and take away his dignity is wrong and it will not happen as long as I have anything to do with it." I said.

Jim came into my office at this point and told me I could hang up the phone now as he was not on the other end anymore. I had forgotten I had dialed his number as this argument had been going on.

"I paged Julie and Rick on my way over to your office so they should be along any time now" Jim said.

"Thank you Jim; May I introduce Pete Samson he is having a problem with WCB. Pete this is Jim Miller the head of our accounting dept." I said.

I passed the pay stubs over to Jim to look at.

Julie came in closely followed by Rick while Jim was looking over the pay stubs and having them explained to him by Pete. I motioned to Julie that she should talk with Sara and they left the office together so Julie could get caught up on what was happening. Rick took a chair and listened to Pete explain to Jim once again what he was up against.

After Pete had finished I looked at Jim "Well you're the money guy what can we do to fix this?"

"I am not sure what we can do" Jim said "I think we are going to have to get someone from WCB over here and see if they have any ideas on how to get this fixed"

Julie was walking into the office as Jim said this. "I have already placed a call for our representative to come over and meet with us. Pete I would like to apologize to you for the treatment you have received from my dept. in this matter and to assure you that we are here to make things better for our employees not harder" Julie said with a great deal of sincerity.

We all moved into the conference room and Julie had someone bring all of the WCB regulations and current files for us to look at. There was little discussion around the table as we all familiarized ourselves with the various files and documentation. It became very clear that there was little we could do once an employee came under the protection of the WCB. From what I could read it was as if we paid for this insurance and then once it was invoked WCB made sure the employer followed the rules and did not adversely affect the employee's life until the case was closed.

The WCB representative arrived while we were discussing the how we could get our employees off of WCB faster.

Julie introduced him "Everyone this is Ronald Sticks".

Everyone around the table introduced themselves as Ronald shook hands with them.

"Pete if you wouldn't mind could you please tell your story one more time" I asked.

I watched Ronald's face as Pete explained the problem to him; he looked over the pay stubs as they were handed to him then sat there digesting the information.

"Pete I understand what you are saying but it is your best interest to get rehabilitated and return to work as soon as possible and it would seem your doctor feels you can do some light duty work in order to refamiliarize yourself with the work place and your other employees" Ronald explained.

"Yes I understand that but with the severe cut in wages I am at now I can not afford to feed my family" Pete stated.

"I am sorry you are in this position but when I look at the amount of money you are presently making you are well above the poverty line. In fact I believe you are making more than I do." Ronald said.