WSIB is broadening its utility belt to help the public and trucking industry uncover and report carriers and drivers engaged in the illegal Driver Inc. scheme.
To go along with an anonymous tip line (1-888-SI-LEADS (1-888-745-3237), WSIB is also offering a web portal, Report Fraud , and contact directly by email, sileads@wsib.on.ca.
Each channel will assist WSIB in the detection of noncompliance, such as Driver Inc.
As previously reported by OTA, over 100 Ontario-based fleets have learned that adopting the Driver Inc. scheme as an operating model is having real consequences. Many of these trucking companies have already received adjustments from the WSIB, totalling millions of dollars, with some individual companies alone receiving adjustments of upwards of $800,000.
“The WSIB uses data-driven approaches to identify Driver Inc. companies and other non-compliance in our sector. We know these efforts have provided clear results and we expect they will continue to keep enforcement personnel busy for years to come,” said OTA’s president and CEO, Stephen Laskowski. “The efforts to date have been such a success and now there are even more ways carriers can send information to the WSIB.”
“This is an excellent way for misclassified workers and concerned carriers to bring noncompliance to the WSIB’s attention.”
Before any enforcement action is conducted, the WSIB performs its own analysis to gauge the validity of the tip.
“Compliant carriers in the industry would like to thank the WSIB for standing up for workers’ rights and ensuring companies pay the true cost of covering their workers,” said OTA chair Wendell Erb. “At the end of the day, this is about companies doing the right thing, playing by the rules, and ensuring their drivers have the coverage they deserve.”
Laskowski said the time has come for the entirety of the supply chain to stop turning a blind eye to gross non-compliance. “If you see something, say something,” says Laskowski. “Driver Inc. hurts everyone by making highways unsafe, polluting the environment, increasing liability among all businesses and leaking critical tax dollars away from important social infrastructure and into the underground economy, which benefits no one except illegal operators.”
The Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) has recently launched a Driver Inc. education and awareness campaign aimed at the CEOs of freight service customers.
“In many cases, these companies have codes of conduct requirements for those they contract as well as corporate mission statement and values,” says Laskowski. “It’s time they realize that doing business with Driver Inc. companies flies in the face of many of those standards and could even put some of these shippers and receivers at risk.”
Click here to learn more or share the campaign.
Meanwhile, enforcement agencies at the federal level like CRA and ESDC are also closing in on Driver Inc. and ramping up resources to crack down on Driver Inc participants.
