- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Permanent impairment {NEL}
- Recurrences (compensable injury) (stress, mental)
On November 4, 2014, the worker was sexually harassed and assaulted by a male co-worker while in the course of her employment. The worker was diagnosed with anxiety and panic attacks resulting from this assault. The issues under appeal were: a) whether the worker was entitled to benefits for a recurrence of her prior Traumatic Mental Stress (TMS) injury; and b) whether the worker had ongoing entitlement to benefits for TMS beyond January 5, 2015, including recognition of permanent impairment and entitlement to a NEL determination, under Claim A.
The Panel allowed the appeal.After the work incidents in the fall of 2017, the worker experienced a significant deterioration of her accepted diagnosed anxiety and panic attacks, which led her to go off work on December 8, 2017. The worker had not fully recovered from her compensable TMS injury of 2014 and when, in 2017, she found herself in a situation she saw as similar to her experience in 2014 where she was fearful of being assaulted again, her PTSD worsened significantly. Further, the significant deterioration did not result from a significant new accident. The Panel accepted the worker's evidence that had the assault in 2014 not occurred, she would not have reacted in the same way to the incidents in 2017, which produced a cumulative impact on the worker's TMS. The significant deterioration in the worker's functioning was clinically compatible with the worker's original TMS injury in 2014. There was a casual link between the significant deterioration and the original injury. The Panel noted that a clear indication of continuing symptoms is not required to establish a causal link.The worker testified that she continues to take medication for her PTSD symptoms and receives ongoing treatment. The Panel recognized that the worker had a permanent psychological impairment with respect to PTSD and was entitled to a NEL determination. This matter was returned to the WSIB for further adjudication of the MMR date and any further benefits related to ongoing entitlement for PTSD.