Being told your injury "didn't happen here" can feel like being called a liar. Your employer is allowed to disagree. But your employer does not decide your claim. The WSIB does.
Who decides if my injury is work-related?
The WSIB decides, based on the information it gathers from you, your employer and your health professionals. Your employer can raise concerns and give its side, and it can object to decisions it disagrees with, the same way you can. A disagreement from your employer is one piece of the file, not the answer.
Does my employer still have to report it?
Yes. Under the WSIB's Form 7 reference guide, an employer must report when it learns a worker needs health care, or is off work, earns less, or needs modified work at regular pay for more than seven calendar days. The report is due within three business days. The guide also says the employer must report even if the employee does not want a claim.
Employers who report late face a $250 penalty, and $1,000 if the report is more than 30 calendar days late.
Can I file the claim myself?
Yes, and you do not need to wait for your employer. Your side of the claim is the Worker's Report of Injury/Disease, called Form 6, which you can complete online. The WSIB's In case of injury poster sets the limit at six months from the date of injury or the date of diagnosis. Our article How to Fill Out WSIB Form 6 walks through it.
What evidence shows the injury happened at work?
- Your account, written today. What you were doing, where, at what time, and what caused the injury. Details fade quickly.
- Who saw it, or who you told first. Names and phone numbers.
- Your first medical visit. Tell the clinician it happened at work, and how. Their notes are often the first record the WSIB reads.
- Your schedule. Timesheets or shift records that place you at work at that time.
- Messages. Any text or email where you reported the injury to a supervisor.
- Photos. The spot where it happened, the equipment, and the injury itself.
Why use Hurt Square?
Because your employer gives its side, and your record gives yours. Hurt Square guides give you one place to keep it from the day you were hurt, so the WSIB reads your account in your own words.
- The day it happened, written down. The National Workplace Injury Recovery Guide has structured space for the injury itself, who saw it, who you told first, your first medical visit 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, the six-month Form 6 deadline and how to object, through to the Appeals Tribunal.
- Facts, not an argument. When two accounts differ, a dated record made at the time carries more weight than a memory pieced together months later.
- 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 guidesWhat if I am being pressured not to claim?
Discouraging or preventing a worker from claiming benefits is an offence under section 155.1 of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act. The WSIB publishes convictions, including fines of $8,000 and $12,500 against two Ontario businesses for claim suppression in 2025 and 2026.
If something like this is happening, write down what was said, by whom and when, and tell the WSIB at 1-800-387-0750.
What if the claim is denied anyway?
A denial can be challenged, usually within six months. Our article “WSIB Rejected My Claim!” | WSIB Denied Your Claim? Your Next Steps Before the Deadline sets out what to do first.
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
- “My Employer Is Stalling!” | Your Employer Won't Report Your Injury to WSIB? What You Can Do Today
- “Can They Really Let Me Go?” | Fired While on WSIB in Ontario? What Your Employer Must Do, and What to Write Down
- “What Happens Now?” | Hurt at Work in Ontario? Your WSIB Claim, Step by Step
- “It Hurts More After Every Shift!” | Hurt Over Time, Not in One Moment? How WSIB Handles Repetitive Strain
Every figure in this article comes from a named source. How we check
Last verified: October 2026.
