| “ADR” | means alternative dispute resolution. |
| “allow” | means the WCAT panel disagrees with the determination made on an issue covered by a decision or order under appeal, or grants the remedy requested in an application. |
| “appeal” | includes an application. |
| “Appeal Division” | means former Appeal Division of the Workers’ Compensation Board (Board). |
| “Appeal Regulation” | means Workers Compensation Act Appeal Regulation, (Order in Council No. 1039/2002 (B.C. Reg. 321/2002)). |
| “appellant” | includes applicant. |
| “application” | includes an application for an extension of time to appeal, an application for reconsideration of a WCAT decision, and an application for a Certification to Court under section 311. |
| “at least” | when referring to the calculation of time, means that the first and last days are not included. |
| “ATA” | means Administrative Tribunals Act, S.B.C. 2004, c. 45, as amended by the Administrative Tribunals Statues Amendment Act, 2015. |
| “Amendment Act” | means Workers Compensation Amendment Act, 2002, S.B.C. 2002, c. 56. |
| “Amendment Act No. 2” | means Workers Compensation Amendment Act (No.2), 2002, S.B.C. 2002, c. 66. |
| “Board” | means Workers’ Compensation Board, now operating as WorkSafeBC. |
| “board of directors” | means board of directors of the Board. |
| “Cabinet” | means Lieutenant Governor in Council. |
| “cancel” | means that the WCAT panel disagrees with a decision under appeal and determines that the decision should be set aside without a new or changed decision being substituted. |
| “chair” | means head of WCAT appointed under section 278(2)(a) who has all the powers of the chair set out in Part 7 of the WCA [s. 277]. |
| “Commissioners” | means former governing body of the Board, prior to June 3, 1991. |
| “confirm” | means that, on every issue addressed in the WCAT decision, the panel agrees with the determinations made by the prior decision-maker in the decision or order under appeal, though not necessarily with the reasons for those determinations. |
| “decision” | For the purposes of appeals under Part 4 of the Workers Compensation Act (WCA), a “decision” is a determination of the Board, including the Review Division, to award, deny, reconsider, or limit entitlement to benefits and services, or impose or relieve an obligation pertaining to the WCA or policy. A decision is made, for the purpose of triggering the timelines for appeals and applications, on the date the decision is communicated to the affected person. |
| “deny” | means the WCAT panel agrees with the determination made on an issue covered by a decision or order under appeal, or does not grant the remedy requested in an application. |
| “FIPPA” | means Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 165. |
| “issue” | means each benefit, or each aspect of a benefit or obligation, dealt with in a decision or order where the decision or order includes determinations regarding: different aspects of a benefit or obligation; more than one type of benefit or obligation; or, determinations regarding the same benefit or obligation at different places or times. |
| “member of family” | means (a) a spouse, parent, grandparent, stepparent, child, grandchild, stepchild, sibling or half sibling, and (b) a person who stood in the place of a parent to the worker or to whom the worker stood in place of a parent, whether related to the worker by blood or not [s. 1]. |
| “members of WCAT” | means chair, vice chairs, and temporary substitute members appointed under section 278(2) [s. 277]. |
| “minister” | means the Minister Responsible for Labour. |
| “officer of WCAT” | means senior registry officer, assessment officer, appeal coordinator, or legal counsel. |
| “party” | means person who may bring or respond to an appeal [s. 291]. |
| “practice directive” | means italicized MRPP item that is consistent with the Workers Compensation Act, R.S.B.C. 2019, c. 1, and its regulations, and the Administrative Tribunals Act, S.B.C. 2004, c. 45, which provides guidance and is not binding on WCAT. |
| “presiding member” | means the WCAT member (either the chair or any vice chair) chairing a panel [s. 277]. |
| “procedural fairness” | means procedural fairness and natural justice. |
| “Review Board” | means former Workers’ Compensation Review Board. |
| “Review Division” | means Review Division of the Board. |
| “rule” | means bolded MRPP item respecting practice and procedure that facilitates the just and timely resolution of matters before WCAT. Rules are binding, but WCAT may waive or modify a rule in exceptional circumstances. |
| “section” (or “s.”) | means section of the WCA, unless context otherwise indicates. |
| “senior vice chair” | means the tribunal counsel and the registrar. Reference to “a senior vice chair” means either of these two positions. Otherwise, references to senior vice chair will be abbreviated to refer specifically to the tribunal counsel or the registrar. |
| “Supreme Court Rules” | means Supreme Court Civil Rules, B.C. Reg. 168/2009. |
| “TCO” | means tribunal counsel office. |
| “vary” | means that, on one or more issues addressed in the WCAT decision, the panel reaches a conclusion which differs in whole or in part from the conclusion or outcome provided by the prior decision-maker and provides a changed decision. |
| “vice chair” | means a WCAT decision maker (not an officer), appointed by the chair, after consultation with the minister, under section 278(2)(b) to make decisions on appeals to WCAT, and whose position is not representative of employers’ or workers’ interests. |
| “WCA” | means Workers Compensation Act, R.S.B.C. 2019, c. 1. |
