Human Resources Legislative Update
Ontario Introduces PTSD Legislation
Date: February 23, 2016
On February 18, 2016, the Ontario government introduced Bill 163, Supporting Ontario’s First Responders Act (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder), 2016. If passed, Bill 163 will, among other things, amend the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997 to create a rebuttable statutory presumption in favour of granting workers’ compensation benefits to certain workers diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
If passed, Bill 163 will apply to the following workers:
- Full-time firefighters
- Part-time firefighters
- Volunteer firefighters
- Fire investigators
- Police officers
- Members of a First Nations emergency response team
- Paramedics
- Emergency medical attendants
- Communications officers
- Workers in a correctional institution
- Workers in a place of secure custody or place of secure temporary detention
- Workers whose duties include dispatching the workers described in paragraphs 1 to 5 (section 2 of Bill 163).
For more detailed information on Bill 163, see our FTR Now of February 23, 2016 “Ontario Introduces Legislation Creating Statutory Presumption of Work-Relatedness for First Responders Diagnosed with PTSD.”
