(RANT) WSIB is a joke - student on teacher violence = $95/week “pay”

Elementary - currently on the supply list for 2 yrs (but with 6yrs perm experience). I left due to burnout and life overload with small kids and a (ex)husband away long days on end. Now that my kids are older, I’m finding the flexibility of supply is more manageable - but the pay is abysmal. I’m hoping to return to a contract if possible.

I received a concussion at the hands of a student in early 2026. Being OT meant that I have no LTD (or sick days).

WSIB required me to work as much as I was able. They calculated ”loss of earnings” for days that I couldn’t work based on the 4 weeks that included the Christmas break. so my “weekly average” pay was set at $95 (for real!).

My board was good about it and provided “modified duties”. But it still meant actually working in the school building every day. The cognitive and sensory overload of being in the busy school was brutal. I collapsed at the end of the day, every day. Some days I worried about being safe to drive home.

My union did nothing to support me. Zero - other than telling me to fill out the paperwork required after ”the incident”. I suppose that there was nothing that they could do because the board was willing to build modified duties.

Based on WSIB requirements I had to work every day - or be unpaid. Because they’d set my weekly income at $95, even one day of work meant that I had earned enough to be disqualified for “loss of earnings”. Because it was a WSIB-managed thing, EI wouldn’t touch me. I did apply for EI on the March Break - but then EI clawed it all back because of WSIB. WSIB wouldn’t even pay the $95 for the week of the break because it was a normally scheduled “non working period”.

So, here I am. More than six months later, still battling nausea, loss of balance, constant tinnitus, difficulty with attention and word-finding, autonomic system issues, and constant headaches. The doctor said that I should have been resting and recovering for at least 6 weeks after the head-injury. WSIB made that financially impossible. The doctor said that as a result of being required to work, my recovery will now be stretched out indefinitely. I haven’t applied for any LTOs for fall because my capacity to work is still severely impacted.

Two other perm teachers at the same school also received concussions within the same period of time (one student accident, one no students involved). They both received extended time to recover (4+ months with graduated return-to-work) and LTD pay.

WSIB acknowledged that Supply Teachers fall through a gap in the system. They also acknowledged that the pay period used to calculate my LOE entitlement was not a “usual earnings” period. But they refused to apply any of my other pay periods - including daily OT work 4-5x every week and a 1.0 LTO in the fall - because it was “policy” to use the 4 weeks preceding the injury.

I had board-sponsored funding for two AQs this spring and summer - but I couldn’t take the courses because I can’t maintain cognitive focus or tolerate extended periods of screen time. Money lost - and eligibility for future funding is questionable because I didn’t use what I’d been offered.

I’m just ranting because … I don’t even know what to do next. A specialist referral to neurology is more than 6 months away.