Glen Abernethy

Thank you, Madam Chair. I don’t think it is a question for this Minister. We pay what we are required to pay under the schedule that was established by the WSCC. If they change the schedule, we’ll pay what we’re asked to pay.

We pay a significant amount of money. Last year we paid $2.3 million. This year, at 79 percent, we’re going to pay 20 percent more than $2.3 million. So we’re going to be approaching $3 million just on our fees.

We already know that for 2012 our claims history has gone down noticeably. Last year when we paid $2.3 million, they paid out $1 million. I would say that we’re...

Thank you, Madam Chair. The Member is essentially right. Ultimately the responsibility for these things falls to the individual deputies. A couple of things have happened over the last couple of years that I think are going to help the process. One of the things that has happened is that WSCC, based on I believe it might have been questions raised by the Member in the 16th Assembly and I think myself as well, started providing us a breakdown of what the actual claims costs are by department. Originally we only got it as a government as a whole. That is helping to inform the individual deputies...

Thank you, Madam Chair. The WSCC has a requirement for us to report incidents. We report those incidents directly to the WSCC. If the Member wants it to go through the Department of Human Resources, we are just creating another step in a process which would take more time, which would probably result in more late penalties. When an injury occurs, an employee is supposed to fill out the form. The employer then fills out the form and they are submitted to WSCC.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The Department of Human Resources provides technical advice to the departments as they are establishing positions. We also provide job description training when a position is created. We facilitate job evaluation to determine how the position or what the position will be paid.

As far as decentralization of positions, that is a direction that Cabinet has given to all departments, boards and agencies in the Northwest Territories, following up on the commitment of Caucus and the priorities of the 17th Assembly. Each department is responsible for looking at their own...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I think definition of poor record is maybe not completely accurate. We have had some late filings. In 2009 there were 18 late filings; in 2010, there were 11 late filings; in 2011 – actually this might be better if I just provide just a touch more information. In 2009 there were 293 claims, 18 of them were late. In 2010 there were 343 claims, 11 of them were late. In 2011 there were 378 claims, 23 of them were late. In 2012 there were 279 claims; nine of them were late. So we’ve had a total of 61 late claims in the last four years and the total cost on late penalties...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I’m not sure I understand the question 100 percent. Sun Life is basically our insurance provider and under the insurance program we can claim back 80 percent of costs, and for medical medevacs we can claim back 80 percent of the costs in certain situations. We have to obviously fill out paperwork and add justification and then we’re able to charge back as part of our insurance.

Thank you, Madam Chair. There are a number of reasons why there could possibly be a late file. There were and there have been time delays between when an incident occurred and when the employee reported the occurrence to their supervisor. We are trying to encourage employees to report incidents immediately, but sometimes it is late. It could be shift work. There were delays between when an incident occurred and when an employee sought medical attention. An individual may have had an incident and didn’t realize that they were necessarily injured and, at a later time, realized that the incident...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, I do.

Madam Chair, in October/November we pulled reps from across the Territories together to give them some training on what expectations there are, providing them with the terms of reference so they can go back to their committees and do some work.

As far as which departments don’t have them yet, I don’t know off the top of my head. But I’d be happy to go back and see if we can get that information and provide it to you in committee.

Thank you, Madam Chair. In 2011-2012, that was the first year that we had a revenue target here and we had them originally at $250,000 but the actuals came at $761,000, so we’ve had to make an adjustment so that we don’t have to do a larger correction later in the year. We think the $750,000 is closer. At the end, it will have to be amended to the actuals.