TORONTO, (Mar. 28, 2005) — Carriers that combine trucking and warehousing will be allowed to classify employees separately based on those operations.

The Ontario Trucking Association says its lobbying efforts convinced the Workplace Safety & Insurance Board of Ontario to change its rule so that employees engaged in warehousing activities are under the warehousing rate group (WSIB Rate Group 560) at $2.73/$100, while the General Trucking (Rate group 570) is currently assessed almost double that at $5. 68.

According to OTA, the policy change will be retroactive to January 1, 2004, and the WSIB will receive requests from firms until May 31, 2005, for consideration of last year’s assessment.

This change only applies to firms that operate a warehouse where the firm contracts with customers for storage and charges a separate fee for the storage, and not to a terminal operation such as an in-transit or cross-dock facility. Those operations will still be considered part of the general trucking rate group, OTA says.