One year after workers compensation eligibility in Manitoba was expanded to include the psychological impacts of an excessive workload, only one claim under those guidelines has been accepted.
A freedom of information request filed by the Manitoba Federation of Labour and provided to the Free Press found that 21 claims of psychological injury due to extreme work were filed to the Workers Compensation Board of Manitoba between May 1, 2023 and July 16.
Out of those, 12 were denied, one predated the new policy, one was withdrawn by the worker and two were accepted as psychological injuries but under other guidelines. Four remain pending.
Ken Gigliotti / Free Press Files
The Workers Compensation Board of Manitoba began allowing claims of psychological injury from an excessive workload as of May 1, 2023.
Just one claimant who sought compensation for the impact of their heavy workload had their claim accepted.
Those numbers don’t match reality, the MFL said.
“These workers need support to heal, and while we know that the WCB has started to take psychological injuries more seriously in recent years, this data shows there is clearly much more work to be done to make sure all workplace injuries are treated the same way at WCB,” MFL president Kevin Rebeck said in a statement.
The Workers Compensation Board of Manitoba expanded its coverage on May 1, 2023, to include “workload over a prolonged period of time that is excessive or unusual in intensity” as a type of psychological injury.
A statement from the WCB said the board “investigates each claim individually” and encouraged any worker who may feel discouraged from filing a claim by their employer to report it to the WCB.
One nurse who had his claim denied spoke with the Free Press under the condition of anonymity. He’s worked in health care for three decades and said he had documented proof that staff vacancies beginning in November 2023 had exacerbated his workload to the point where he often found himself working 14-hour days to ensure patients were seen.
“The situation continued to escalate to a boiling point, to at one point, I was done. I was done. I was, literally physically, mentally drained,” he said Thursday.
“I (had) no more capacity to do what I needed to do my job, because of the heavy workload.”
The decision to make the claim came after he reached out to management outlining how the extra work had left him exhausted and distressed, and instead of support, he said he was met with a “punitive” meeting with his superiors that led to him having a mental breakdown.
“It’s not like they don’t know my background, my training, my expertise. I’ve been working in the same unit for many years … it was extremely unusual for me to call for help,” he said.
He left work late last year, using his paid sick time to work through the claim. He saw a psychologist assigned to him by the WCB, who he said agreed his abnormally high workload had been a cause of his mental health issues. He provided emails and other communication he had sent his superiors over months outlining the amount of work he was doing and how it impacted him.
His claim was denied this spring.
“Everything that (the WCB) asked me to do, I did. And we have a full assessment this medical, psychological, (assessment) that says that I need more help, and this is a work-related injury, yet you’re denying it,” he said. “(I was told), this is our policy, and if you don’t like it, appeal.”
An appeal is in the works but there are lasting scars. He’s back at work, where he described his supervisors as “not very welcoming,” and he’s paying for medication out of pocket to help with his lasting mental health issues.
“The public should know that the people who care for them and are coming to provide care for them, either at their home or in the hospital, are under tremendous stress,” he said.
Manitoba Nurses Union president Darlene Jackson called the process of getting a claim accepted “stringent” with an unreasonable number of hoops to jump through.
“We’re finding that, for some reason, nurses’ claims are not being accepted under the psychological (damage guidelines),” she said Thursday.
“And I don’t understand why, because it’s clear to me, and to anyone in this province that has been listening, there is definitely psychological damage in health care in this day and age.”
Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union president Kyle Ross said he was “surprised” to hear so few claims had been made and only one accepted.
“I regularly talk to MGEU members who are under severe strain and stress with no end to the staffing crisis in the public sector in sight,” he said.
The guidelines for how an excessive workload claim is investigated by the WCB focuses on if that workload constitutes a traumatic event.
A long period of burnout has to be documented — a memo on the WCB’s website notes that “a few days (or a) couple of weeks” is unlikely to be enough time — and the board has to determine a “reasonable person” would face psychological damage as a result of the workload.
malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca
Malak Abas
Reporter
Malak Abas is a city reporter at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg’s North End, she led the campus paper at the University of Manitoba before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Malak.
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