July 2, 2008

Temporary Foreign Workers

Widow of worker killed in Alberta finally gets compensation

CHRISTIAN LABOUR ASSOCIATION OF CANADA

Liu Ruijuan and her six-year-old daughter Ge Ge, are the family of Ge Genbao, a welder who was killed last year at the Horizon oilsands project near Fort McMurray. Ruijuan suffered a series of frauds and attempted fraud since her husband died. The deception was uncovered at the last minute, when Ruijuan phoned a labour union representative who was meeting with an imposter to hand over some cheques.

Richard Gilbert

staff writer

The widow of a Chinese temporary foreign worker killed at an oilsands project in Alberta is finally receiving her death benefits.

In addition to losing her husband, she suffered through two separate plots to steal her cheques, which were uncovered by a union representative and the Workers Compensation Board of Alberta.

Welder Ge Genbao, 27, and electrical engineer Lui Hongliang, 33, were killed in April 2007, at the Horizons oilsands project north of Fort McMurray.

The temporary foreign workers were building the roof of a massive storage tank when it collapsed, but they did not belong to a union.

However, they were both eligible for worker compensation payments and Genbao was covered by a union group insurance program.

A labour representative with the Christian Labour Association of Canada (CLAC) in Fort McMurray, Wayne Prins, was able to ensure that Genbao’s widow, Lui Ruijuan, was not cheated out of her insurance death benefits by an imposter.

“We went to Zhengzou to meet with the family of Ge Genbao and present the cheques from the insurance payout and other funds,” he said.

“We were still in the meeting and just wrapping up after two hours. Moments before we were about to part ways, I received a phone call that said we were meeting with people, who were pretending to be the widow.”

At this point, the fast thinking of Prins ensured that Ruijuan and her six-year-old daughter Ge Ge received their group insurance benefits.

“After putting down the phone, I told them that the call was to inform me that the cheques were no good, due to a problem with the bank in Canada,” Prins recalled.

“The woman I was meeting with was an imposter, who was actually the sister-in-law of the widow.”

The last minute phone call was from the real widow.

Prins later followed up on the call and made arrangements to meet Ruijuan in Beijing.

She was presented with a cheque for the death benefit and half of the $110,000 raised by fellow workers at the Horizon project.

In addition to the attempted insurance fraud, Ruijuan also suffered from an additional fraud and another attempted fraud.

“Temporary foreign workers are protected like any other worker under the Workers Compensation Act, which entitles them to all sorts of compensation, including survivor benefits,” said WCB spokeswoman Jennifer Dagsvik.

“The spouse of a killed worker is eligible for benefits the following day. We wanted to get the benefits to her as soon as possible, but we had difficulty obtaining the address of the family.”

She said it took a couple of months to confirm the family address and locate the widow, but the first six WCB benefit cheques were sent to the original address of record.

“To our knowledge, we were sending out cheques to the right address,” she said. “Then our case manager got a call from a friend of the widow, which said there may be an issue with the widow receiving her benefits.”

According to Prins, about $40,000 in cheques was sent to her previous address. The WCB stopped sending the cheques to the original address in April.

A Chinese investigator was hired to visit the widow’s village near Zhengzhou and confirm her identity. Ruijuan and Ge Ge had been living with her in-laws, but they were kicked out a week after Genbao’s funeral.

She then moved back to her parent’s home in the same village.

The WCB sent four cheques for February to May and Ruijuan confirmed that she received them.

Dagsvik said cheques were sent for February and March, because they had not been cashed and a stop cheque order was issued.

Ruijuan was also sent a declaration form stating she had not received the money sent to the original address of record.

The WCB is taking action to retrieve the money by investigating how the cheques were cashed and presented to the bank in China.

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