Ben Parkin

Ben Parkin is Associate Counsel at Howard Employment Law where he provides advice and litigation services to clients with a focus on navigating interactions with WorkSafe BC and compliance with WorkSafeBC requirements.

Ben has extensive experience advising on WorkSafeBC’s prevention and enforcement, employer rate setting and assessment scheme and injury claims issues. He worked for over 18 years as litigation counsel in the Law and Policy Division of WorkSafeBC, reaching the position of Director Litigation and then General Counsel. In those roles, Ben advised WorkSafeBC on all aspects of the workers compensation system and litigated dozens of cases involving the rights of workers and the obligations of employers under WorkSafe legislation and policies.

Ben served as lead counsel on several cases in the British Columbia Court of Appeal and Supreme Court of Canada dealing with issues such as:

• the validity of an occupational health and safety regulation imposing safety obligations on employers in the forest industry;
• the scope of the safety responsibilities of employers sharing a worksite when charged with safety violations;
• the obligations of employers and WorkSafeBC in relation to bullying and harassment complaints; and
• the validity of WorkSafeBC policy on statutory minimum payments to permanently disabled workers.

While Ben has the expertise and experience with litigation in the Review Division and WCAT at WorkSafeBC, as well as the courts, he looks forward to applying this experience to providing clients with cost-effective, creative and efficient resolution of their issues thereby avoiding the need for protracted and costly litigation.

Ben is active in the community having taught occupational health and safety law at Langara College, authored papers and chapters on workers compensation law for several legal publications and sitting as a decision-making member of the Health Professions Review Board. He has also coached soccer, taught sailing to adults, and sat on the Board of Directors of DARE BC, an organization that empowers youth with critical thinking skills that can help them avoid drug dependency.

T: 604.454.4380
E: bparkin@howardlaw.ca

Education & Credentials

• Call to the Bar: British Columbia, 1988
• University of British Columbia B.A. 1984 and LL.B 1987

Memberships/Affiliations

• Law Society of British Columbia
• Canadian Bar Association – past chair of the Construction Law subsection and member of the Appellate Advocacy subsection
• Mental Health Review Board – past chairperson 2003-2011
• Health Professions Review Board – current member

Recent Cases of Note

R. v. Greater Sudbury (City), 2023 SCC 28 – Supreme Court of Canada case involving a fatality at a construction site that clarified the scope of the responsibilities of various employers working at a common site in respect of safety violations.

Ahluwalia v. British Columbia (Workers’ Compensation Board), 2022 BCCA 165 – BC Court of Appeal case involving the scope of WorkSafeBC’s powers and obligations in investigating a bullying and harassment complaint against an employer.

Colwill v. Workers’ Compensation Board of BC and WCAT, 2019 BCCA 261, 2019 BCCA 453 – BC Court of Appeal case challenging the validity of WorkSafeBC’s policies respecting the statutory minimum payments made to workers for permanent partial and permanent total disability.

West Fraser Mills v. WCAT and Workers’ Compensation Board of BC, 2018 SCC 22 – Supreme Court of Canada case involving the constitutional validity of an occupational safety and health regulation imposing safety obligations on owners and employers in the forest industry.

Air Canada v. WCAT and Workers’ Compensation Board of BC, 2018 BCCA 387 – BC Court of Appeal case respecting the jurisdiction of WorkSafeBC over non-resident flight crew injured while in flight outside the Province of British Columbia.