WorkplaceNL said it is calculating a benefit adjustment for about 24,000 workers who received certain payments between July 1, 2016, and Dec. 31, 2022.
Payments are expected to range from as little as $2 up to $780 it said, depending on the length of benefits received. The reason? WorkplaceNL’s claims payment system was not updated when the non-refundable provincial tax credit changed from 7.7 percent to 8.7 percent on July 1, 2016. That led to incorrect calculations of certain benefits.
Affected workers are owed about $2 per week that they received benefits, plus interest, it said.
Impacted benefits
The impacted benefits are:
- wage-loss benefits, including temporary earnings loss (TEL) and extended earnings loss (EEL)
- retirement benefits, excluding pension replacement benefits (PRB)
- and dependency benefits.
“WorkplaceNL apologizes for the error, and thanks clients for their patience as WorkplaceNL takes time to calculate the adjustment back to July 1, 2016,” it said in a press release. “Changes have been made to guard against this from happening again.”
WorkplaceNL expects to start to provide more information and payments to workers in late June 2023. Details on how much is owed per worker are not known at this time.
How much are workers owed?
How much a worker is owed depends on how long their claim was open, their weekly benefit rate, offsets and other factors.
Most workers may likely receive less than $120. As examples, they may receive approximately:
- $2 or less if they received benefits for a week or less
- $30 or less if they received benefits for up to 13 weeks
- $120 or less if they received benefits for up to 52 weeks
If workers received benefits for the full period, from July 1, 2016 through December 31, 2022, they may receive up to $780.
Workers who have moved since their last benefit payment from WorkplaceNL are asked to update their mailing address online in MyWorkplaceNL (www.MyWorkplaceNL.ca).
An adjustment is not required on any benefits paid in 2023, it said.