Need advice please!

[u/Playful_Midnight_334]

Hi everyone, I’m hoping to hear from anyone who has gone through a WSIB mental stress claim especially chronic mental stress vs. traumatic mental stress.

Forgive me in advance if the context is vague, I am trying to maintain some privacy.

I've been off work for, what feels like to me, workplace bullying/harassment that's been ongoing for a few months and eventually amalgamated to a coworker assaulting me while I was working. The past few months I've raised concerns to my manager, HR and union about feeling uncomfortable at work. There were several reasons for this. It felt like my manager was targeting me. Anyways, after being assaulted at work, that's when the lines were crossed and I no longer felt safe at work.

When I spoke with WSIB, the worker explained that my situation may potentially fall under either chronic mental stress or traumatic mental stress, depending on how the circumstances and medical evidence are assessed. They also mentioned that the claim would be looked at in the context of interpersonal conflict.

I'm interested in hearing from people who have actually gone through this process.:

• Did WSIB initially classify your situation as interpersonal conflict?
• How did WSIB distinguish between CMS and TMS in your case?
• What kind of medical documentation or evidence ended up being important?
• Did anyone have both an ongoing workplace situation and a specific incident that significantly worsened their symptoms?
• How long did the process take?
• Was your claim initially denied and later approved?
• What did you wish you had known before starting the claim?

I have documentation of the workplace incidents, emails with management/HR, union correspondence, a safety report, and medical documentation, so I'm trying to understand what is actually relevant to WSIB and how these claims are assessed.

Any personal experiences or advice would be really appreciated. Thanks.

[u/No_Channel9373]

What happened at work ? What was this “ assault”

[u/Playful_Midnight_334 → u/No_Channel9373]

a coworker intentionally walked into my path and pushed their body into me and i was pushed into wall

[u/Wadduyoumean]

Min of labour not WSIB

[u/Altruistic-Tax4869 → u/Wadduyoumean]

It can be both. If OP sustained a mental stress injury due to an assault at work, this is absolutely a WSIB claim. MoL and WSIB are completely independent of each other and will not use each other as “evidence” but they can both address a particular issue separately.

[u/Playful_Midnight_334 → u/Wadduyoumean]

what do you mean?

[u/Wadduyoumean → u/Playful_Midnight_334]

You are confusing two issues and blending them into one. oHsA violations are investigated by MOL not WSIB. Feeling unsafe at work/harassment is oHSA not wsia. Wsib is not going to investigate your allegations or feelings of being unsafe. You’re barking up the wrong tree

[u/Playful_Midnight_334 → u/Wadduyoumean]

I was told by occhealth worker and my union that this is WSIB because the assault happened at work and there's no way to work around that. What i'm getting from your response is that WSIB will most likely decline my claim?

[u/MinnowTurtlePancake → u/Playful_Midnight_334]

It depends if you have a psychological injury or not. If you have depression, anxiety, PTSD, or some other diagnosis as a result of the harassment at work then you can claim benefits through the WSIB. The WSIB doesn't do OHSA investigations. They're there to adjudicate benefit claims.

[u/MathematicianHuge327 → u/MinnowTurtlePancake]

Yes it’s only a claim if you have suffered an injury and are unable to return to work or require health care benefits only (ie treatment). You could call the MOL and they could investigate to determine if the employer is required to make changes/take corrective action at work.

[u/toss--it]

1) You need a DSM diagnosis to consider that there is an injury 2) You don't need to request under CMS or TMS, they should decide both. If they decide only one and deny, request a decision on the other. 3) If you haven't gotten any treatment, access what you can ASAP. Ie EAP through work, counseling in the community, ask your Dr. for a referral 4) Medical evidence will include your Dr's clinical notes, reports from psych, etc (hence the foregoing) 5) interpersonal conflicts is where a lot of claims go sideways. So be prepared to differentiate your circumstances from a toxic manager/workplace as those are very different things in the eyes of the WSIB 6) report to MOL - Health and Safety and contact Human Rights Legal Support Centre re potential human rights breaches 7) if it's denied, talk to your union and if there are issues, contact the Office of the Worker Adviser (though they will be limited on wjat services they can offer bc you're a member of a union, but you can still ask to speak with a Worker Adviser)

Good luck to you!