“The Bills Won't Wait!” | Waiting on WSIB With No Money Coming In? Where to Turn

A father with his forearm in a cast reads a grocery receipt in his kitchen, with a child's sippy cup and wooden blocks on the counter.

Rent, groceries and car payments do not pause while the WSIB decides. If money has stopped, there are places to turn while you wait.

How long might I wait?

Many claims get a first decision fairly quickly, but some take longer. Our article Still Waiting on WSIB? How Long a Decision Takes explains what affects the timing.

Can I get EI sickness benefits?

Possibly. The Government of Canada's page on EI sickness benefits says they can pay up to 26 weeks, at 55% of your earnings, up to a maximum of $729 a week. You must meet the eligibility rules.

You cannot be paid by both for the same time off. If the WSIB later approves your claim, the EI money for that period has to be repaid. Ontario's legal information service, CLEO, explains that you will probably sign an assignment of benefits form so the WSIB repays EI directly from your benefits.

What about a disability plan through work?

If you have disability insurance through your job, you may be able to claim it while you wait. Tell the insurer you were hurt at work and have claimed workers' compensation. Most insurers will not pay for the same injury and period the WSIB covers, so they usually ask for an assignment of benefits too.

What if I need money right away?

Ontario Works, part of social assistance, can help if you qualify. There are income and asset limits. As with EI, you will likely sign a form letting the WSIB repay some or all of what you received if your claim is approved.

What should I keep track of?

  • Every payment. Who paid, how much, and for which dates.
  • Every form you sign. Especially assignment of benefits forms, with copies.
  • What the WSIB paid back, and to whom, once your claim is decided.

A simple record like this makes sure nothing is repaid twice, and that nothing you are owed slips through.

Why use Hurt Square?

Because when EI, a disability plan or Ontario Works fills the gap, someone has to keep track of who paid what, and what gets repaid. Hurt Square guides give you one place to keep it.

  • Every payment and form, in one place. The National Workplace Injury Recovery Guide has structured space for time away from work, wage loss, expenses and every conversation with your employer and the WSIB.
  • The Ontario rules, in plain words. The Ontario Workplace Injury Companion Guide explains Forms 6, 7 and 8 and how to object, step by step through to the Appeals Tribunal.
  • Made for hard days. 123 pages and more than 1,200 fillable fields that work on your phone, tablet or computer, in plain language. When your union representative, worker adviser or lawyer asks for something, it is already there.

Both guides, $39 until 22 November. The National Workplace Injury Recovery Guide and the Ontario Workplace Injury Companion Guide, with the discount applied at checkout. Bought separately: $63.99.

Get both guides

Who can help?

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. If you are in a union, start with your union representative. A community legal clinic is another free route.

Read next

National Workplace Injury Recovery Guide

If your recovery were reviewed tomorrow, what would your record say?

The National Workplace Injury Recovery Guide is where your recovery gets documented, day by day. Symptoms, appointments, calls and costs, written while they are fresh. It works in every province and it stands on its own.

Both guides, $39 until 22 November. Add the Ontario Workplace Injury Companion Guide for the dates and rules that shape your recovery in Ontario, and the discount applies at checkout. Bought separately: $63.99.

Every figure in this article comes from a named source. How we check
Last verified: October 2026.
Workplace Claim Correspondence Tracker: Free Starter Edition

Keep every call, letter and decision together

Workplace Claim Correspondence Tracker: Free Starter Edition

A deadline board, call records, board decisions with the reason given, and proof of what you sent.

By entering your details, you agree to receive recovery tips and offers from Hurt Square. We use your first name and province to send you what applies where you live. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Free for your wallet: a printable card that tells you what to do first if you are hurt at work and what to write down.

Everything above is free.

If you want the whole system, it comes in two parts.

Two things decide how an injury claim goes.

What you wrote down. The National Recovery Guide is the daily record: symptoms, appointments, calls, costs, and what you can no longer do. It is the part a claim is eventually judged on.
Whether you did the right thing at the right time for where you live. Your Provincial Companion Guide carries your deadlines, your forms, your boards and your appeal routes. Ontario is not British Columbia. Generic advice sends people to the wrong form, and then to the wrong date.

Buy only the National Guide and you keep a perfect record, then miss a deadline nobody told you about.

Buy only your Provincial Guide and you know every date, with nothing written down to send.

You need both. That is why they are priced as a pair.

Bought separately: $63.99. Together: $39 until 22 November.

The discount applies automatically at checkout.

Get the Complete System for $39

Hurt in a vehicle instead? Start here. ·  Not sure which province edition you need? Find yours.

A fillable PDF that works on every device you own, for one payment.

Your Recovery. Documented. Protected.

You are not the only one

Somebody else has already had this exact week.

We closed comments on our articles, on purpose. A public comment box under a page about claims is a place where people give away details that can be used against them later, and we would rather not build that.

The Square is where that conversation belongs instead. Canadians hurt in an accident or on the job say what happened, read what happened to everyone else, and find out they were never the only one. Post under your name or not at all.

Say what happened, in The Square

Know someone going through this? Send them The Square.

Moderated, with house rules. Please leave out claim numbers, adjuster names and anything else that identifies your file. Something specific to your own claim is better sent to recovery@hurtsquare.ca.