Stress in the Classroom – A WSIB Claim? (Professional Relations)

There  is  no  denying  that  work-related stress is  on  the  rise  among  classroom teachers.  Ontario   Teachers’  Insurance Plan statistics show that stress and mental health illnesses make up 39 percent of all claims for long-term disability. (This is more than twice  the incidence of the second leading cause of disability – diseases of the musculoskeletal  system/connective  tissue,  which make up 17 percent of claims.)¹ Even the most seasoned  educators face escalating pressure to do more for their students despite having fewer resources.

Stress can lead to poor physical and mental health, and among its causes are:

• conflict with a school administrator or another colleague
• dealing with difficult students
• burnout and exhaustion from never- ending classroom paperwork and marking
• an unfavourable performance appraisal
• perceived harassment and/or bullying by an administrator or parent
• difficulty balancing professional career with family life.

Stress  can  create  a  broad  range  of  symptoms from insomnia and depression/anxiety to much more  complex medical and psychiatric conditions.

You may believe that because your doctor has put you off work due to work-related stress, you are eligible to file a Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) claim. Work caused the stress and therefore you must be suffering a workplace illness. Right? Not necessarily. The WSIB addresses workplace stress under its Traumatic Mental Stress policy. This policy has  very  specific  criteria  that  must  be  met before a stress claim can be considered. For  instance,  under  the  policy  for  Traumatic Mental Stress,

A worker is entitled to benefits for traumatic mental stress that is an acute reaction to a sudden and unexpected traumatic event arising out of and in the course of your employment. Sudden and traumatic events include such things as witnessing a fatality or a horrific accident, witnessing or being the object of an armed robbery, witnessing or being the object of a hostage-taking, being the object of physical violence, being the object of death threats, being the object of threats of physical violence where you believe the threats are serious and harmful to you or others, being the object of harassment that includes physical violence or threats of physical violence to yourself or others, being the object of harassment that includes being placed in a life-threatening or potentially life-threatening situation.²

However, there is no entitlement for traumatic mental stress that results from decisions or actions that fall within the employer’s management rights.  Such  actions  as  termination,  demotion,  transfer, supervision, discipline, changes to working hours, or changed expectations regarding productivity do not in and of themselves meet the requirements of the Traumatic Mental Stress policy.

Teachers have received benefits for lost time due to mental stress caused by traumatic events such as assaults by  students or threats of harm from students or parents. Other workers have received benefits when they suffered an acute reaction after witnessing a traumatic event in the workplace.

Two of the key issues for the WSIB and Workplace Safety and Appeals Tribunal  (WSIAT)  in  considering  entitlement  for  mental  stress  are whether the triggering event amounts to a sudden and traumatic event and whether the event is related  to  an exercise of management rights. This debate is commonly triggered in cases where the claimant is seeking an entitlement for stress resulting from alleged harassment, particularly harassment by managers. Such cases are examined on their  individual facts.

In the past, the WSIAT has granted entitlement for mental stress in cases where a worker was subject to significant harassment by co-workers or supervisors. In 2007, a worker (to whom we’ll give the pseudonym Jamie) suffered a  stress-related disability following a return to  work. Jamie had been granted entitlement for shoulder and neck problems due  to  a  workplace  incident.  Upon  return,  the  supervisor  created unnecessary stress by personally harassing Jamie with public put-downs and  humiliating  jokes,  abusing  authority,  imposing  a  most  unusual workload, requiring Jamie to act unethically, and making a veiled threat against Jamie. The WSIAT ruled that this treatment went well beyond the reasonable realm of employment function (WSIAT#664/01). In such circumstances, the WSIAT was able to  establish specific criteria  that allowed for entitlement:

1.   The harassment constituted a “sudden and traumatic event”under the terms of the policy.
2.  The stress was the result of overzealous scrutiny or vexatious pursuits by the worker’s manager.
3.  The manager’s conduct was outside her/his employment function; e.g., abuse of authority, making personal attacks.

However, allegations of harassment by supervisors were found not to be “traumatic” in a case where a worker was deemed to have had possible stressful interactions with a supervisor. Unpleasant or hostile interactions with co-workers were also not seen as sufficient in and of themselves to amount to a “traumatic event.” In this case, the worker had also asserted entitlement to benefits for the mental stress she experienced when management forced her to change her work methods (even though she had by then used these methods for a number of years), and for stress arising out of a performance review process. The WSIAT ruled that the employer had  the right to  require the worker to  change the way she performed certain work and to review her performance against these new expectations. The WSIAT would not second-guess the manager’s judgment on such issues (WSIAT#3022/07). Similar findings have been  made  in  other  claims  related  to  stress arising out of the performance review process. Nevertheless, it is  important that each WSIB claim be assessed on its own facts in reference to the policy requirements.

As unpleasant or frustrating as a supervisor’s behaviour may be, establishing a stress claim on the basis of harassment is not easy – and may, in fact, be impossible – if the actions are deemed to  fall  within a  reasonable scope of  management rights and there is no objective evidence of a traumatic triggering event. Certainly you have a right to file a WSIB claim but gaining entitlement may be challenging. In some cases, issues of harassment may be dealt with more effectively under the collective agreement or the school board’s harassment policy.

While  the  WSIB  is  unlikely  to  approve claims for the regular and everyday stresses of the classroom, the stress you or your colleagues experience is no less real. ETFO has produced a variety of articles that you may find useful in dealing with stress in the classroom. For more information on this and related topics go to etfo.ca.AdviceForMembers and  click  on   PRS MATTERS Bulletins, or etfo.ca/AdviceForMembers/Depression.

You may also contact Professional Relations staff to discuss your concerns. This is a confidential service.

Notes:
<sub>1. From  the ontario  teachers’  insurance  plan  2008 Benefits Workshop,  September 24-25,  2008,  Delta Meadowvale   hotel, Mississauga,  ontario.
2. traumatic  Mental  Stress, WSiB  operation  policy #15-03-02 at wsib.on.c a .</sub>