What do I do first?
Find the date on the decision letter. That date starts your time limit, not the day you opened the envelope and not the day you understood it.
Then read one line in the letter: the deadline it states. The WSIB prints the applicable time limit on every decision it issues, and that printed deadline is the one that governs your file.
Everything else can wait a day. That date cannot.
How long do I have to object to a WSIB denial?
Thirty days for some decisions and six months for most, set by section 120 of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act.
| The decision is about | You have |
|---|---|
| Return to work, work transition or re-employment | 30 days |
| Anything else, including entitlement and loss of earnings | 6 months |
The WSIB explains both limits on its page on objecting to a decision. If one letter decides two things with two different limits, the WSIB applies the six month limit to both.
What has to arrive by the deadline is your completed Intent to Object form or a letter of objection. Not your evidence. Not your argument. The objection itself is what stops the clock, and you can build the rest afterwards.
If the limit has already passed, write to the decision maker asking for an extension and saying why it was missed. The WSIB will tell you in writing whether it can extend.
What actually changes a denied WSIB decision?
New information. The decision maker reconsiders the file when you provide something that was not in front of them the first time, and the WSIB says this step generally takes fourteen business days.
That is worth understanding before you write anything. Repeating what the file already says will not move it. What moves it is a document that was missing, a date nobody had, a witness nobody asked, or a specialist who has since examined you.
So the question is not how strongly you disagree. It is what is missing.
What should I be documenting right now?
The things that were probably thin in the file the first time.
- When the symptoms started and how they changed. Denials often turn on whether the injury is work related. A record written the same week carries more weight than a memory reconstructed six months later.
- Every appointment and what was said. The date, who you saw, what they found and what they recommended.
- Every call with the WSIB and with your employer. The date, the name, and what was agreed. A call nobody documented did not happen.
- What you can no longer do. At home, at work, and the tasks you have handed to somebody else.
- Every expense. Prescriptions, devices, parking and travel to appointments.
A denial is not the end of your recovery. It is a decision made on the record that existed at the time, and the record is the part you control.
Who can help me with a WSIB objection?
The Office of the Worker Adviser, if you are not in a union. It is an independent agency of the Ontario government, and its service to non-unionized injured workers is free. Its number for English service is 1-800-435-8980, and its guidance on appeals at the WSIB sets out the same limits.
If you are in a union, start with your union representative. A community legal clinic is the third route.
What happens after I object?
The decision maker reviews it first. If the decision does not change, your file moves to the Appeals Services Division and an Appeals Resolution Officer, and after that to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal, which is independent of the WSIB.
Each stage has its own deadline. Our article How Do I Appeal a WSIB Decision? sets out the route in full.
If your denial was about the amount rather than the entitlement, our article How Much Does WSIB Pay While You Are Off Work? explains the benefit rate itself.
Every figure in this article comes from a named source. How we check
Last verified: September 2026.
