On April 5, 2016, the Ontario government passed Bill 163, Supporting Ontario’s First Responders Act (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder) 2016, amending the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997 (“WSIA”) and the Ministry of Labour Act. The Bill will come into force upon Royal Assent.
Tag: EMS
Ontario Passes PTSD Bill
On April 5, 2016, Bill 163, Supporting Ontario’s First Responders Act (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder), 2016, passed Third Reading as amended by the Standing Committee on Social Policy. As previously reported, Bill 163 amends the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997 to create a rebuttable statutory presumption in favour of granting workers’ compensation benefits to certain…
PTSD Bill Passes Second Reading
On March 3, 2016, Bill 163, Supporting Ontario’s First Responders Act (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder), 2016, passed second reading and was referred to the Standing Committee on Social Policy. As previously reported, 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…
Ontario Introduces Legislation Creating Statutory Presumption of Work-Relatedness for First Responders Diagnosed with PTSD
On February 18, 2016, the Ontario government introduced Bill 163, Supporting Ontario’s First Responders Act (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder) 2016, amending the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997 (“WSIA”) and the Ministry of Labour Act.
Ontario Introduces PTSD Legislation
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…
Ontario Tables PTSD Legislation
On February 18, 2016, the Ontario government tabled Bill 163, Supporting Ontario’s First Responders Act (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder), 2016, amending the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997 and the Ministry of Labour Act. If passed, Bill 163 would create a statutory presumption in favour of granting workers’ compensation benefits to first responders diagnosed with post-traumatic…
PTSD Strategy Announced by Ontario
On February 1, 2016, the Ontario government announced new initiatives designed to address post-traumatic stress disorder (“PTSD”) suffered by first responders. The initiatives build on the feedback received by the government at its Summit on Work-Related Traumatic Mental Stress, hosted by the Minister of Labour in March 2015. In this FTR Now, we review these…
EMS Matters Publishes an Article by Mark Mason and Stephanie Jeronimo
An article authored by Hicks Morley’s Mark Mason and Stephanie Jeronimo was published in the Winter 2014/2015 edition of EMS Matters. The article entitled, “Accommodating Mental Health Disabilities: What are Employers Obligated to Do?” discusses the importance of the duty to accommodate within the workplace. Mark and Stephanie address key issues that employers in the…
Ontario Moving Closer to Creating Statutory Presumption for PTSD Claims Made by Emergency Response Workers
Managing mental illness flowing from workers’ compensation claims may become more difficult for emergency management services employers in Ontario. On February 27, 2014, Bill 67, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Amendment Act (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder), 2014, passed Second Reading in the Ontario legislature with all-party support, and was referred to Committee for consideration. If passed,…
Ontario Releases Draft Compensation Restraint Legislation for Consultation
Earlier today, the Ontario Minister of Finance announced draft omnibus legislation, the Protecting Public Services Act, 2012 (the “Draft Bill”), that would implement new, substantially more restrictive compensation restraint measures, and impose a significant new provincially mandated collective bargaining regime, for the Broader Public Sector (“BPS”). Highlights of the Draft Bill include: Schedule 1 (enacting…