It’s one of those questions that gets asked all the time: “the treatment given to me by the WCB’s doctor injured me, can I sue the doctor”? Well the answer to that is an emphatic no.

The case that made this point clear was the Supreme Court of Canada decision, Kovach v. British Columbia (Workers’ Compensation Board), [2000] 1 S.C.R. 55. The physician alleged to have been negligent was found to be a worker under the WCB statute and therefore could not be sued for his actions.

This is a case that everyone dealing in labour and employment law should have filed away in their resource materials.