‘The workers' compensation system is strongest when it reflects the voices of those who rely on it’
The Newfoundland and Labrador government has launched an independent statutory review of the province's workers' compensation system and appointed a five-member committee to lead and oversee the process.
The committee will submit a final report and recommendations to the Provincial Government by March 31, 2027.
The review is required under the Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Act, 2022, which mandates an independent statutory review of the system every five years to ensure it continues to meet the needs of workers and employers.
Scope and review themes
The committee will examine system governance and operations. Its work is organised around three themes:
- Safety – Safe and Healthy Workplaces
- Support – Fair and Sustainable Support for Workers and their Families;
- and Simplicity – A Streamlined, Efficient and Accessible Compensation System.
The safety theme is listed first among the committee's terms of reference. The department said the review will help ensure the workers' compensation system remains responsive, sustainable and effective in supporting workers and employers across the province.
The workers' compensation system provides support to injured or ill workers through health care, wage-loss benefits, impairment payments, and retirement benefits. The statutory review is intended to assess whether that system continues to meet its mandate across the province.
Committee membership
The membership of the review committee was structured to balance employer and worker interests. Darren Roberts has been appointed chairperson. A retired chartered professional accountant who ran a private practice for 31 years, Roberts served on the WorkplaceNL board for 13 years, chairing its finance and investment committees, and is currently deputy mayor of the Town of Stephenville.
Doug Youden serves as vice-chair and employer representative, and Heather Stamp has been appointed as a second employer representative. Youden brings a 40-year management career across Halifax, Guyana and St. John's, including roles as operations manager, acting vice-president of health, safety, environment and quality, and director of people, and has held the Canadian Registered Safety Professional designation. Stamp is a people and culture leader with MC Advisory with more than 20 years advising organisations across the public, private and non-profit sectors, holds the ICD.D designation, and sits on several provincial and national boards.
Bernadette Coffey Sobol and Bob Fiander have been appointed as worker representatives. Coffey Sobol has spent 13 years supporting injured workers and has served as workers' compensation benefits and accommodations officer with NAPE since 2018, having earlier worked as a workers' advisor with the Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour and represented it on the 2019 statutory review committee. Fiander is executive director of Trades NL, the Newfoundland and Labrador Building and Construction Trades Council, a long-time labour leader in the province's unionised construction sector, and a founding trustee of the Members Health Program.
Members were nominated by the Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour, Trades NL, the Atlantic Chamber of Commerce, and the Board of Trade. The department said biographical information for the committee members is available in a backgrounder accompanying the announcement.
Consultations and funding
Public input will be gathered by the committee through in-person, written and online consultations province-wide. The committee will examine governance and operations across the system as part of that process.
Details on the consultations will be shared publicly by the committee once confirmed, the department said. The committee is to deliver its final report and recommendations to the Provincial Government by March 31, 2027.
The review is funded through WorkplaceNL's Injury Fund. WorkplaceNL administers the compensation system and the fund that underwrites it.
Ministerial statement
Mike Goosney, Minister of Government Services, Minister of Labour and Minister Responsible for WorkplaceNL, encouraged participation in the review.
"The workers' compensation system is strongest when it reflects the voices of those who rely on it. I encourage workers, employers, and stakeholders across the province to take part in this review," Goosney said.
"Your input will help strengthen a system that supports safe workplaces, delivers fair benefits, and ensures long-term sustainability for Newfoundland and Labrador," he added.
