“PTSD: The arc of justice bends towards first responders” / Andre Picard (Globe and Mail, Jan. 7, 2016)
Amendments in effect January 1st have changed the way Manitoba’s workers’ compensation treats post-traumatic stress disorder claims, with diagnosed PTSD now presumed to be work-related and the onus put on the employer or WCB to prove otherwise. While research shows first responders (such as paramedics, firefighters, police officers) have a higher rate of PTSD and suicide than the general public, one in 10 people will suffer from PTSD at some point during their worklife. Unlike in other jurisdictions, Manitoba’s legislation does not limit those occupations eligible to make a PTSD claim.
Next month (Feb. 16) Ontario’s Legislative Assembly is scheduled to debate private member Bill 2, a Workplace Safety and Insurance Act amendment. This is the latest attempt by NDP’s Cheri di Novo in an 8-year struggle to have PTSD recognized as a presumed occupational disease for emergency personnel.
As the Globe & Mail article notes, with psychological injuries in general now estimated to account for more than one in four workers’ compensation claims, employers and governments fear the cost of such changes. Yet experience from Alberta, where PTSD has been an eligible condition since 2012, has shown no spike in the number of PTSD claims but rather that they have been settled more quickly and more fairly.
Related reading:
- “Editorial: PTSD law a fair approach to injury” / (Winnipeg Free Press, Jan. 4, 2016)
- “Ontario could recognize PTSD as workplace-related illness for first responders” / (CBC News, Jan. 2, 2016)