Injured at Work as a Newcomer in Ontario:
What WSIB Pays, and How to Protect Your Income

1Who WSIB Covers, and Why Your Status Is Not the Question

The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) is Ontario's workplace insurance. Employers pay for it, workers do not. When a covered worker is hurt or made ill by their job, WSIB pays for treatment and replaces part of their lost pay, no matter who was at fault.

Whether you are covered depends on the work and the employer, not on your passport. Coverage is mandatory for the industries listed in Ontario's regulation, and employers in the industries that are not listed can choose to register. WSIB's own guide for seasonal agricultural workers from Mexico and the Caribbean says they are eligible for benefits and services like any other covered worker in Ontario, and it states that immigration decisions belong to the federal government, not to WSIB.

The federal government says the same for temporary foreign workers: they have the same rights and protections as Canadians and permanent residents, and it is against the law for an employer to stop them from making a workers' compensation claim.

From wsib.ca pages on coverage status, independent operators and optional insurance, read November 5, 2026.

WSIB is a no-fault system, and there is a trade-off. Its policy manual says entitlement to benefits replaces most rights to sue your employer, even if the employer caused the injury. If someone outside your workplace caused it, for example another driver while you were driving for work, WSIB asks you to choose between claiming benefits and suing that person.

2What WSIB Pays: Wages, Health Care and Long-Term Benefits

WSIB pays two kinds of benefit for most injuries: health care for the injury, whether or not you miss work, and loss-of-earnings payments if you cannot work or can only work for less pay. Serious injuries add more.

From wsib.ca: the loss-of-earnings benefit page, the guide for people with claims, and the 2026 premium rates page, read November 5, 2026.

WSIB says it pays approved health costs for the injury even if you have other insurance. For an allowed claim, the approved treatment for a work injury is WSIB's bill, not yours, and you do not need a private plan for it.

Payments are not taxed. The Canada Revenue Agency asks you to report them on line 14400 of your return and deduct the same amount on line 25000, so they count toward net income for things like the GST/HST credit and the Canada child benefit, but you pay no income tax on them. WSIB sends a T5007 slip with the amount.

Your job is also protected in some cases. Under WSIB's re-employment policy, an employer that regularly has 20 or more workers must offer to re-employ an injured worker who had worked there continuously for at least a year. The duty lasts until the earliest of two years after the injury, one year after you are able to do your old job, or age 65.

3Where WSIB Leaves You Short

WSIB is good insurance for the job it does. It was never meant to cover everything, and newcomers often discover the gaps only after an accident.

• The other 15%. If your take-home pay is $1,000 a week, WSIB pays $850. Over three months off work that is about $1,950 you cover yourself, while rent and remittances to family stay the same.
• Pay above the maximum. Earnings above $121,700 a year are not counted, so a higher earner gets well under 85% of their real take-home pay.
• Injuries outside work. A fall on ice on a Sunday, a hockey injury or a car accident on your own time is not a WSIB claim. OHIP pays the doctor and hospital, but no one replaces your pay unless you have sick days, group benefits or private insurance.
• The trip to and from work. WSIB treats you as at work once you reach your employer's premises. The exceptions are jobs that require you to drive, transport your employer controls, travel on the employer's business and emergency call-outs.
• Most self-employed people. Independent operators outside construction, which can include some delivery drivers and cleaners who work for themselves, are not covered unless they bought optional WSIB insurance.
• A claim that is not allowed. WSIB decides whether an injury came from work. While a claim is reviewed or appealed, you may have no income from it.
• Cash for extra costs. WSIB pays approved care, not the taxi to a relative's home, the childcare while you recover, or the bills that pile up while you wait.

At Ontario's minimum wage of $17.95 an hour from October 1, 2026, a 40-hour week is $718 before deductions. WSIB pays 85% of take-home pay, so the benefit is less than $610.30 a week, the figure you would get from 85% of the gross amount. WSIB's net average earnings calculator gives the exact amount for your pay.

Government programs do not fill the gap. Ontario's employment standards give 3 days of unpaid, job-protected sick leave a year. EI sickness benefits pay 55% of insurable earnings, up to $729 a week in 2026, for up to 26 weeks, after a one-week waiting period and only if you worked 600 insured hours in the past year, which rules out many people in their first months in Canada. EI also counts WSIB wage payments as earnings for the same weeks, so it does not top up a WSIB claim.

Every one of these gaps is an income problem, and that is what disability insurance is for. Keep making your WSIB claim when you are hurt at work, and have your own income plan for everything WSIB does not pay.

4Disability Insurance: An Income That Does Not Depend on WSIB

WSIB decides whether you get paid, how much, and for how long, and only for injuries at work. Disability insurance is your own contract: it pays you a monthly income when an accident or a soft tissue injury (a sprain, strain, carpal tunnel or rotator cuff injury) keeps you from working, wherever it happened. ACCI JET from iA Financial Group is the disability plan EGE Insurance offers for this.

From WSIB's Loss of earnings benefit page and iA Financial Group's ACCI JET Program contract wording. The contract sets the exact terms, limits and exclusions.

Two choices in the contract matter for workers. First, pick the 24-hour version if you want work injuries covered too; the cheaper version covers only accidents that are not work-related. Second, know how it works with WSIB: for the first two years after the waiting period, the first $1,000 a month is paid in full whatever else you receive, and the rest is counted together with WSIB up to the amount the plan allows for your income. For an injury off the job, there is no WSIB benefit to count against it.

Applicants must be 18 to 69 and work at least 21 hours a week, 8 months a year. There are only three health questions for the accident and soft tissue coverage, and no blood tests. The price depends on your age, your occupation and the benefit you choose, so it is quoted for you: use the quote button on this page, or book a call. Our disability insurance guide and the guide for the self-employed explain benefit periods and other clauses.

5Accident Insurance: Cash on Top, From $7 a Month

ACCI 7 PLUS from iA Financial Group is one of the accident plans EGE Insurance offers, and its documents are clear on how it treats other payments. iA's flyer says the disability benefit is paid regardless of amounts received from other sources. In insurance terms it is non-integrated: WSIB payments do not reduce it. iA does not price the plan by occupation, so a construction or warehouse worker pays the same $7 a unit as an office worker.

From iA Financial Group's ACCI 7 PLUS flyer (F13-1100A) and advisor guide, as recorded in our insurer knowledge base. Each unit costs $7 a month; the plan allows up to 15 units.

The disability benefit has conditions. It pays when an accident leaves you totally disabled and causes a hospital stay, a fracture, a dismemberment, a major burn or a major laceration, and the disability must begin within 90 days of the accident. A sprain that keeps you home for two weeks with no fracture or hospital stay would not trigger it. iA guarantees payment within 7 business days of a complete accident claim, and pays $30 for each late business day, up to 7 days.

6When a Newcomer Can Buy: Residency Rules by Plan

This is the part most newcomers do not expect. WSIB covers you from your first day at work, but private plans have their own entry rules, and some cannot be bought in your first year.

From ontario.ca (Apply for OHIP and get a health card) and iA Financial Group's eligibility rules for newcomers, read November 5, 2026.

ACCI 7 PLUS also pays no benefit for any period when you are not covered by a provincial health plan, so keep your health card valid. If you are in your first months in Canada, our guide to the provincial health waiting period for newcomers covers the gap before OHIP or another province's plan starts.

A practical order for a newcomer worker: make sure your employer is registered with WSIB, apply for OHIP as soon as you qualify, and once you reach the residency rule, decide whether an accident or income plan is worth it for your pay, your family and the kind of work you do.

7Ontario Compared With British Columbia, Alberta and Manitoba

Every province has its own workers' compensation board, and if you move or work across provinces, the rules change. EGE Insurance is licensed in these four provinces, so these are the boards our clients deal with. Ontario pays the lowest share of take-home pay of the four.

From wsib.ca, worksafebc.com, wcb.ab.ca and wcb.mb.ca, read November 5, 2026. WorkSafeBC gives workers up to one year to report an injury; check each board for its own deadlines.

WCB Alberta's own page on personal coverage says the maximum may not replace all lost income for people who earn more, and points them to additional private coverage. The same logic applies in Ontario: above $121,700 a year, WSIB does not count the extra earnings at all.

8If You Are Hurt at Work: The Deadlines

• Tell your employer right away and get care beyond first aid. Your employer pays your full wages for the day of the injury.
• Your employer reports to WSIB within 3 business days once you need care, miss work or earn less.
• You report to WSIB within 6 months of the injury. If you never report, wage-loss benefits are limited to two weeks.
• Tell your disability insurer too. ACCI JET claims have their own deadlines: notify iA within 30 days and send full evidence within 90 days.

9Where These Numbers Come From

Every figure on this page comes from a government or workers' compensation board site, or from the insurer's own documents. Where those sources do not answer a question, this page leaves it out.

• WSIB: loss-of-earnings benefit, guide for people with claims, employer reporting and 2026 rates and maximum earnings
• WSIB policy manual: coverage status, third-party rights of action and re-employment obligations
• WorkSafeBC wage-loss benefits, WCB Alberta wage replacement and WCB Manitoba wage loss benefits
• Canada Revenue Agency: line 14400, workers' compensation benefits
• Ontario: apply for OHIP and get a health card
• iA Financial Group: ACCI 7 PLUS flyer F13-1100A and advisor guide F13-1098A, ACCI JET program contract and advisor guide F13-1124A, and its eligibility rules for newcomers (ia.ca)
• Government of Canada: temporary foreign workers' rights, EI sickness benefits and how much you could receive; WSIB: travelling, how to register your business and net average earnings calculator; Ontario: minimum wage and sick leave.

10Frequently Asked Questions