A second Canadian province, Manitoba, recently amended its Workers Compensation Act to create a rebuttable presumption that claims for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are work-related. But Manitoba’s law is novel in that it applies to all workers, regardless of occupation.
The first province to enact a presumption for PTSD injuries for some workers was Alberta. It amended its Workers’ Compensation Act in December 2012 to create a presumption that a diagnosis of PTSD is work-related, but only for emergency medical technicians, firefighters, peace officers, and police officers.
Ontario is in the early stages of making changes similar to Alberta’s. There is a similar proposal before the Legislature in British Columbia.
In Ontario, Bill 163, Supporting Ontario’s First Responders Act (Post-traumatic Stress Disorder), 2016, passed second reading on March 3 and was referred to committee. If Bill 163 is passed, it will create a rebuttable presumption that a diagnosis of PTSD is work-related for firefighters (volunteer or professional); police officers; members of a First Nation emergency response team; paramedics; emergency medical attendants; dispatch workers for ambulance, fire, and police; and workers in correctional institutions, places of secure custody, or temporary detention.
Bill 163 is tailored to help employees who experience traumatic events at work. It would prohibit benefits for PTSD that arise only out of disciplinary, termination, or other employment decisions made by an employer.
In British Columbia, on February 23, an opposition member of the Legislature introduced a private member’s bill that would amend BC’s Workers Compensation Act to create a rebuttable presumption that diagnoses of PTSD in emergency medical assistants, firefighters (volunteer or professional), peace officers, police officers, sheriffs, correctional officers, and 911 communications officers are work-related. As it is a private member’s bill, it is unclear whether it will be enacted.
The effect of the presumption in Alberta and proposed presumptions in BC and Ontario mean that emergency first responders suffering from PTSD will not have to link their diagnosis to a particular workplace event or series of workplace traumatic events. As PTSD can be diagnosed only after a patient reports symptoms in excess of one month, it is potentially difficult for emergency first responders to identify and document the workplace event(s) that may have caused their PTSD, particularly if the first responder is exposed to a large number of traumatic events.
In Manitoba, the legislation applies to all workers. Some argue that the Manitoba approach is fairer in that it treats all workers alike. For example, if a bus driver is in an accident involving a pedestrian or bicycle that results in PTSD diagnoses to both the bus driver and first-responders at the scene, the first responders would not have to prove the PTSD arose from a traumatic event at work, but, absent Manitoba’s law, the bus driver would. On the other hand, first responders obviously face traumatic scenes much more frequently than others, so the presumption is arguably more sensible.
Finally, it is important to note that in all of these cases, the presumption is rebuttable. It remains to be seen how vigilant the workers’ compensation agency investigators will be when determining whether a worker’s PTSD is work-related or whether they will leave these arguments to be made by employers in the compensation claims process. As well, it will be interesting to see whether remaining provinces in Canada will follow the Alberta or Manitoba approaches to the presumption or whether they will adopt the presumption at all.
