Translation error

A paralegal for an employer complained to us that a decision by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) on the case of a worker from Quebec who was injured in Ontario took almost a year to process because of translation delays. She said many of the documents in the case were in French and the WSIB had to have them translated into English. The claim was submitted in December 2023, but there was no decision until November 2024.

Result: Our French Language Services Unit intervened in this case and found that the delay was due to a lack of French-speaking staff at the WSIB after the bilingual caseworker on the file left. The translation was also unusually delayed because of administrative errors. The WSIB has since implemented measures to prevent this from happening again, including ensuring that its translation service has processes in place to confirm receipt of large and urgent documents.