discrimination & harassment
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For many, a disabling injury or illness feels like a remote event that doesn’t require urgent planning - until it happens. Unfortunately, this puts many people in the position of having to decipher and navigate their insurance and other benefits schemes in the very moment that they have the least time, energy and attention to spare. Add to that insurance companies and employers that are reluctant to commit to the costs of approved claims, and the process can quickly feel like an overwhelming and insurmountable obstacle for people already confronting the unknowns of their changing health.
Depending on your circumstances, determining the amount, source and duration of your benefits can be complicated. The same can be true of accommodations, such as reduced working hours, arising from your injury or illness. Disagreements or conflicts regarding which benefit scheme you qualify for, the nature of your restrictions, the amount you’re entitled to, and other details can arise, further complicating the process - in some cases, right from the start. This can lead to delays in receiving payments and added stress, hindering your recovery or even worsening your health further.
Cassandra assists employees and other individuals with understanding and accessing their entitlements under both public and private disability insurance plans. She can clarify and guide you through the many processes that arise throughout your disability, including applications, decision-making and appeals, and seeking short- or long-term accommodations. Even if you’re currently healthy or still at work, developing a working understanding of your benefits plans and options ahead of time can make all the difference between managing an unexpected illness or injury while also urgently having to make sense of complex insurance and benefits plans for the very first time, and doing so with the peace of mind to attend to your health and well-being.
Relying on both her professional and personal experience, Cassandra helps her clients navigate the many challenges that illnesses and injuries bring with them. As a person with disabilities herself, she understands firsthand the unique difficulties that arise not just from managing a new or ongoing health problem, but also from the many administrative burdens placed upon people at a time when they are at their lowest capacity to handle them.
Cassandra’s goal is to clarify and - as much as possible - simplify the process of accessing benefits so that you can focus on taking care of yourself.
Employers, unions and their lawyers deal with complex issues and the mechanisms for resolving them every day. But for many employees, every step - even the first request for help - can feel like venturing into uncharted territory, and the documents mapping out your rights can appear indecipherable. Just asking for explanations can be frustrating, as the people managing things may not realise how much understanding of these processes they presume everyone else knows, or are simply too busy to go into detail and start with the basics.
Cassandra’s approach is to provide you with patient, accessible information about your rights - and sometimes obligations - under the law, your bargaining unit’s collective agreement, and you employer’s workplace policies. She can help you understand what your rights are, along with their sources and the processes available to you in order to assert them - including whether you have options outside the scope of your union’s advocacy, or concerns about your union’s advocacy itself. With experience having assisted clients on both sides of the labour relationship, Cassandra understands how decisions are made by both employers and unions, and can provide you with insight into how that might affect your situation.
The best time to plan for a disability is before it happens.
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.