Learning that you may not go back to the job you knew can be a real loss. It may have been your trade, your routine, your people. If you are facing that, take it one step at a time. The WSIB has a set process for this, and you have a say in it.
When does the WSIB step in with retraining?
Under the WSIB's policy on return to work assessments and plans, policy 19-02-10, the WSIB carries out a return to work assessment when you and your employer cannot resolve the return to work challenges on your own. A return to work plan follows if one is needed. The policy applies to decisions made on or after 30 November 2020.
The first place the WSIB looks is your own employer. It puts other suitable work with the employer where you were hurt ahead of the wider job market.
What is a suitable occupation?
A plan is built around what the WSIB calls a suitable occupation. The policy describes it as a category of jobs suited to your transferable skills, and it has to be safe for you and available.
Transferable skills are what you carry with you: your experience, training, education and abilities. Think about everything you have done, at work and outside it.
Do I get a say?
Yes. The policy says the WSIB aims to give workers "effective and meaningful input and choice" in choosing a suitable occupation, and you are encouraged to suggest occupations yourself. Come to the conversation with ideas. A job you can picture yourself doing is far more likely to work.
What can a plan include?
The policy lists services such as:
- English as a second language
- literacy and basic skills
- academic upgrading
- vocational skills training
- training on the job
- job search training
- employment placement and work trials
Generally, a plan will not run longer than three years.
How is my pay worked out?
This is the part to understand early. The WSIB pays full loss of earnings benefits during a work trial. At the end of the plan, your loss of earnings is adjusted based on what you can earn in the suitable occupation.
The policy uses entry-level wages if the plan teaches you a new skill set or field, and mid-level wages if it builds on skills you already have. That is why the choice of suitable occupation matters so much. It can shape your benefits long after the plan ends.
What if I disagree with the plan?
Act quickly. Decisions about work transition carry a 30 day limit to object, much shorter than the six months for most other WSIB decisions.
Write down why the occupation or plan does not fit: your restrictions, your health, the jobs that actually exist where you live. Then send your objection in writing before the deadline. Our article “I Think WSIB Got It Wrong!” | Disagree With a WSIB Decision? How to Appeal, Step by Step sets out the route.
Do I have to take part?
Co-operation obligations apply to you and your employer alike. Our article “I'm Not Ready to Go Back!” | Can You Refuse Modified Work on WSIB? What Happens If You Say No explains how the WSIB handles co-operation and what has to happen before any penalty.
What should I record?
- Your restrictions. In writing from your health professional, and how they change.
- Every job you have done. With the skills each one used. This feeds your transferable skills.
- Occupations you would like to suggest. And why each one fits.
- Every meeting about your plan. The date, who was there and what was decided.
- Your progress in training. Attendance, results, and any problems your injury causes.
Why use Hurt Square?
Because the occupation the WSIB chooses can shape your benefits for years, and your input carries more weight when it is written down. Hurt Square guides give you one place to keep it.
- Your skills and restrictions, on the record. The National Workplace Injury Recovery Guide has structured space for your restrictions, modified duties, every meeting 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.
- Ready for the 30-day limit. Work transition decisions leave you far less time to object than most. With your record already together, those days go into your objection.
- 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 guidesWho 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 Wants Me Back!” | Return to Work and WSIB in Ontario
- “That Number Seems Wrong!” | Is Your WSIB NEL Award Too Low? How It Is Worked Out and What to Check
- “I'm Worried the Money Will Stop!” | How Long Does WSIB Pay You For?
Every figure in this article comes from a named source. How we check
Last verified: October 2026.
