- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Board Directives and Guidelines (stress, mental) (traumatic event)
- Presumptions (first responder)
On August 24, 2018, an armed individual stabbed a client in a waiting area then jumped over a counter into an office area where the worker worked and threatened staff. The worker had been employed as an immigration case processing officer with the employer. The worker appealed an ARO decision dated July 12, 2022, which denied the worker entitlement for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) under the WSIB's Operational Policy Manual, Document No. 15-03-13, "Post-traumatic Stress in First Responders and Other Designated Workers". The worker had received entitlement for PTSD under the WSIB's Policy 15-03-02, "Traumatic Mental Stress".
The Panel denied the appeal.The Panel considered whether the worker was working as a first responder at the time of the accident. The worker's job duties included conducting "checks" to determine whether there were any outstanding warrants or prior arrests of refugee claimants, interviewing claimants in an interview room that was used exclusively to arrest and detain claimants, and advising detainees that their passport would be seized. The Panel concluded that the worker did not work in a place of secure custody or secure temporary detention within the meaning of the WSIA and Policy 15-03-13. The Panel found that a "place of secure custody or secure temporary detention" in the WSIA and Policy 15-03-13 relates to workers employed in youth services as defined in the Child and Family Services Act. The worker was not employed in youth services as defined in this act. Accordingly, she did not have entitlement as a first responder under the legislation or Policy 15-03-13.