Recovery of Claim – related Overpayments Policy 21-290 | Effective Date: November 28, 2023

Policy

WorkSafeNB will calculate the amount of the claim-related overpayment when the worker or service provider receives a payment in excess of entitlement.                

Some instances that may result in claim-related overpayments include:

• New evidence or reconsideration by WorkSafeNB;
• Administrative errors;
• Canada Pension Plan disability payments (CPPD) as per Policy 21-230 Deduction of Disability Benefits under the Canada Pension Plan;
• Abuse, including when it arises to fraud. For more information see Policy 46-300 Protecting the Integrity of the System; or
• Decisions by the Decision Review Office or the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Tribunal.

Claim-related overpayments will be collected as long as the individual is notified within the limitation period of two years of when the claim-related overpayment occurred.

If the claim-related overpayment is due to an administrative error the notification period is shortened to within 30 days of WorkSafeNB discovering the error except in cases when the worker or service provider could or should have reasonably been aware of the error.

WorkSafeNB collects all claim-related overpayments that result from abuse, including fraud, to the extent the law permits and may seek interest on the outstanding balance in judgments pursued in court, as per Policy 21-040 Interest on Claim-related Benefits and Employer Accounts.

Interpretation

Collecting

1. When WorkSafeNB collects claim-related overpayments, recovery may be obtained by:

• Immediate repayment in full (preferred); or
• Instalment repayment as outlined in a recovery plan.

2. WorkSafeNB may suspend or modify recovery plans if it determines repayment would cause financial hardship, with two exceptions:

• Financial hardship is not considered in cases of abuse, including fraud; and
• Overpayments created as a result of CPPD payments will not be suspended or written off due to financial hardship as WorkSafeNB has a legislated obligation to reduce compensation benefits received for the same period of entitlement to CPPD.

3. If all efforts fail to recover the amount owing from a claim-related overpayment, WorkSafeNB may initiate civil legal action.

Write-offs

4. WorkSafeNB determines the feasibility for collection of the claim-related overpayment. WorkSafeNB may write-off amounts owing from claim-related overpayments.

5. In the case of administrative errors, claim-related overpayments under $500 will be written-off.

6. Claim-related overpayments resulting from the overturning of a WorkSafeNB decision by either the Decision Review Office or the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Tribunal will be written off.

7. When an overpayment of compensation payments for loss of earnings is not collected by WorkSafeNB, the amount written off will be deducted from any future entitlement for the same time period.

 Application

This policy applies to all decisions made on or after the effective date.

This policy applies to workers, survivors, and all service providers who receive a claim-related overpayment. Policy 21-300 Allocation of Claim Costs gives further direction for employers’ costs related to overpayments.

Previous Policy

Policy 21-290 Recovery of Claim-related Overpayments release 6, effective June 21, 2022

Policy 21-290 Recovery of Claim-related Overpayments release 5, effective January 29, 2016

Policy 21-290 Recovery of Claim-related Overpayments release 4, effective September 4, 2014