She/Her
Cézanne Charlebois is a lawyer who practises almost exclusively in management-side workers’ compensation and occupational health and safety prevention. She has also represented a small number of workers throughout her 20-year career, which has given her invaluable insights into the systemic issues in adjudication and the potential for bias amongst all decision-makers. Furthermore, it has enabled her to provide her clients with comprehensive advice, including risk and cost reduction. She was an active member of the Ontario Bar Association’s Workers’ Compensation Executive Committee for several years. Over a decade ago, she was designated as a Certified Specialist in Workplace Safety and Insurance Law by the Law Society of Ontario.
Cézanne is known for fighting tenaciously for her clients to obtain evidence-based decisions in a fairly adjudicated system. She has great admiration for written decisions that thoroughly, objectively, and fairly review the law, policy, and facts while providing procedural fairness to all stakeholders. That means the system is working as it should for all stakeholders. Her clients are throughout Ontario, from Windsor to Kapuskasing, and include employers across different industrial sectors and Schedules.
Cézanne advocates for responsible accident-prevention practices and proactive risk and liability management long before a Form 7 is needed. But when one is required, this document is a critical opportunity to investigate, verify facts, and minimize costs. WSIB claims management and appeals work best when employers are very proactive at the front end of the claim. For employers and their representatives seeking fair adjudication, there is a vast world between claimed facts and verified facts. Unfortunately, the WSIB system does not provide sufficient resources for adjudicators to verify facts or to obtain essential medical histories. Even directly relevant files within their own system, already paid for by employers previously, are often overlooked as viable sources of collateral information for decision-making.
To help her employer clients learn about claims management and appeals within the workers’ compensation system, she has recently developed a 20-lesson online educational program. Currently, there are three foundational courses online: The Form 7, Modified Duties, and the ITO, which help protect employers from the potentially 11-year-long financial impact of claims that have been allowed without satisfactory evidence, consideration of the law, and correct application of Board policy. As an example, she recently overturned a survivor benefits decision that would have potentially cost employers in Ontario for another 70 years, resulting in the employer receiving a $300k refund and a $50k reduction in premiums every year going forward.