British Columbia is making it easier for more workers to receive access to mental health assistance from WorkSafeBC for work-related trauma, including coroners, respiratory therapists, and social workers.
Effective today — June 10, 2024 — 11 new occupations have been added to the mental-health presumption under the Workers Compensation Act, providing easier access to workers’ compensation for psychological injuries caused by work-related trauma.
List of 11 new occupations covered
The newly included occupations are:
- community-integration specialists
- coroners
- harm-reduction workers
- parole officers
- probation officers
- respiratory therapists
- shelter workers
- social workers
- transition house workers
- victim service workers
- withdrawal-management workers.
These additions join the list of occupations already covered under the presumption, such as first responders. The mental-health presumption is designed to expedite the claims process with WorkSafeBC, allowing workers faster access to treatment and workers’ compensation benefits once a formal diagnosis of psychological injury has been made, it said. This initiative aims to ensure that workers who support others receive the necessary care and support.
Workers whose occupations are not covered by the presumption can still file a claim with WorkSafeBC if they believe their mental-health condition is work-related.
The Workers Compensation Act permits the inclusion of other occupations in the presumption as new evidence becomes available. Factors considered when adding an occupation include the nature of the work, potential exposure to traumatic events, and data on psychological injuries. The Ministry of Labour reviews and considers all submissions for expanding the presumption to additional occupations.
Background on mental-health presumption
In 2018, amendments to the Workers Compensation Act established a mental-health presumption for municipal and federal firefighters, police, paramedics, sheriffs, and correctional officers. In 2019, this was expanded to include emergency response dispatchers, nurses, publicly funded health-care assistants, forest firefighters, fire investigators, and firefighters working for Indigenous organizations.
The mental-disorder presumption regulation, introduced in April 2019, extends presumptions to emergency response dispatchers, nurses, and health-care assistants employed in publicly funded settings.
Understanding the presumption
Under the Workers Compensation Act, a presumption means that if a worker in a specific occupation develops a recognized disease or disorder associated with that occupation, it is presumed to be work-related unless proven otherwise. This eliminates the need for claimants to prove that their condition is work-related once formally diagnosed.
The act and regulations specify certain cancers, heart injuries, and diseases for firefighter groups under presumptions. The 2018 amendments included mental-health disorders for federal and municipal firefighters, police, paramedics, sheriffs, and correctional officers.
The Ministry of Labour has set two criteria for extending the mental-health presumption to additional occupations: workers must be exposed to traumatic events due to the nature of their work, and the occupation must be clearly defined to identify workers exposed to such events.