My turn

granpa1959

granpa1959

Never say never!
Trusted Member
I was recently diagnosed with a workplace Trauma event causing PTSD and an Anxiety disorder resulting in a case of Hypertension due to job stress. At the recommendation of the psychiatrist and cardiologist I have gone off of work on leave.

Opened a Worksafe BC file. Heard from the case manager yesterday. Wow!! Set up to fail. The Claims adjudicator will contact me with out warning and do a 1 hour assessment on the phone. I am to be able to recall the times including down to the hour of the day, locations and all contact info for any witnesses.

Hold the phone here! Traumatized, anxiety ridden, stage 2-3 hypertensive crisis level blood pressure and depressed... recall and relive every traumatic event with all that detail? Are they nuts that could give me a heart attack. Then again with out warning they will call and I am to attend a 1 hours psych evaluation at their location with their psychiatrist.

The employer has all those details. I am off work and they have no interest in supporting my claim.

Do I fight it out?
Do I just go on EI sick benefits and do a gradual return to work at the end of 15 weeks?
Do I hang in for LTD through the union?

Never one to back down from a fight I'm conflicted.

My health is far more valuable then the BS this will cause me.

Voice of reason says...
Take the 15 weeks.
Go back GRTW
Use up all my vacation and sick hours accrued post return.
Retire Nov 1 like I planned before this happened.

Thoughts and opinion?

Similar experiences?
 
Added to the bullshit I just was told that my benefits are terminated after I miss 20 days re: Collective agreement!

LMAO holy fuck!!

I'm just gonna take charge of this situation.

Voice of reason: 1

Irish pride: 0
 
granpa1959 said:
I was recently diagnosed with a workplace Trauma event causing PTSD and an Anxiety disorder resulting in a case of Hypertension due to job stress. At the recommendation of the psychiatrist and cardiologist I have gone off of work on leave.

Opened a Worksafe BC file. Heard from the case manager yesterday. Wow!! Set up to fail. The Claims adjudicator will contact me with out warning and do a 1 hour assessment on the phone. I am to be able to recall the times including down to the hour of the day, locations and all contact info for any witnesses.

Hold the phone here! Traumatized, anxiety ridden, stage 2-3 hypertensive crisis level blood pressure and depressed... recall and relive every traumatic event with all that detail? Are they nuts that could give me a heart attack. Then again with out warning they will call and I am to attend a 1 hours psych evaluation at their location with their psychiatrist.

The employer has all those details. I am off work and they have no interest in supporting my claim.

Do I fight it out?
Do I just go on EI sick benefits and do a gradual return to work at the end of 15 weeks?
Do I hang in for LTD through the union?

Never one to back down from a fight I'm conflicted.

My health is far more valuable then the BS this will cause me.

Voice of reason says...
Take the 15 weeks.
Go back GRTW
Use up all my vacation and sick hours accrued post return.
Retire Nov 1 like I planned before this happened.

Thoughts and opinion?

Similar experiences?
Click to expand...
It's time you contact a lawyer
Even if you do not hire them typically you get one chance to do it right. So knowledge is power. Once you know all your rights you will have power
 
You may have a workplace discrimination issue on your hands. You're union should be advising you which direction to take,, if you're not satisfied with the results then a human rights lawyer as Bull suggested may be another avenue to consider
 
Fight it out. If you are claiming PTSD from your workplace, it can evolve over time if there have been many days where you were subject to either emotional assault/distress or physical assault/distress. You need to make sure you have access to all your Incident reports. PTSD itself may manifest by showing signs of depression, anxiety and some physical ailments like hypertension. Your shrink will be the best ally in your case. A one-hour assessment is complicated to manage as a client, and many folks stumble through the entire thing. Make sure you are stumbling, and if you are not nervous, appear to be. The same goes for the company shrink. He/she will be assessing things that can't be assessed over the phone, like facial features (worry, sorrow, fear, anxiety) And body language such as fidgeting, toe-tapping, shifting in your chair, picking cuticles or fingernails.
Prep yourself because you probably do all these things now. Just make sure you are having a bad day because any client would be extremely nervous going on one of those appointments.
 
Union Official stated that it will take time but we will win in the end. Waiting on some return emails about access to some info from the employer.

Saw my psychiatrist. This not her first rodeo with WSBC. She supports the EI sick benefit then LTD while the Union and I fight it out with WSBC.

Meanwhile messages and well wishes are pouring in from my staff and outside organizations we partner with.

Getting refills on 3 months of meds before benefits tank. Trying to narrow down the cost of group insurance purchase through the union.

Applying Plan G. I only have 3 meds. Ramipril sine this started a few weeks back. Synthroid since I obliterated my thyroid in an accident. Mirtazapine a common anti-anxiety med prescribed.


Nice to know I am not alone in this fight. Nothing in life is worth it unless we have to work to get it.

So much for just using the time to recover.

This is fucking with my plans.
 
If you are on EI Sick Benefits and then on WSIB, your benefits should not be affected. You are still an employee until you quit, or they are successful with firing you, which can only be done after a grievance. Read your Collective Agreement and also make arrangements to see your Union President or better your Unions lawyer. Something seems off.
 
You can call the Law Society for your province. It will be a toll free number.

You call them, briefly explain the area of law you need advice in. Then they give you the numbers of 3 different lawyers within a reasonable distance from you. Those 3 lawyers are each required to give you 30 mins of FREE advice. After 30 mins, you will have a very good idea how to proceed. You can choose to use one of those 3 lawyers or not.

Me and my wife used it and honestly, it was unbelievable.. I called the first lawyer (of the 3 given to me), explained on the phone what our issue was. Took about 30 mins.. The lawyer then told me "how about you come into our office and I'll sit down with you guys and get all the details I need".. Told the guy we were young, just bought a house etc.. And that I just needed to know if there was anything within the law we could do. If there was, we'd hire a laywer, but we can't afford to pay for a lawyer to determine if there is anything we could actually do about what had happened.. They said "come see us.. It will be free. We will determine what you can legally do and then you can decide how to proceed"..

We drove down and sat with the lawyer for over an hour... In the end they explained to us we couldn't actually legally fight what had happened, but they offered us advice on how to proceed. All this was free.. We would have hired them on the spot to help us, but there was nothign they could actually.

Was awesome experience. Call the law society..
 
Update:

I have a union advocate who will now pick up the ball if any disputes arise with the employer, EI or WSBC.

Referred to the EDMP for case management (BS for get back to work you are costing us money).

If my doctor gives me a letter telling EDMP they cannot contact me for 12 months while I follow a course of treatment. Then they have no choice but to do so.

As I was thinking the benefit plan is managed through the union and I can still access it.

All this is moot if WSBC file is approved. Then I belong to my doctor and them instead.

Eye rolling!

I have a great team of doctors and have no concerns. Just alot of stress from the pile of documents, emails, phone calls and veiled threats as well as passive intimidation.
 
My psychiatrist gave me a script for Ativan.

Damn, 1 itty bitty pill under my tongue and 20 minutes later the stress evaporated. No wonder I hand these out like pez to the patients.
 
I have a fair amount of experience in this area with risk management and I agree with @Taureau - talk to a lawyer and find one that is experienced in employment law. A union advocate is great but trust me companies pay a lot more attention when they get a letter from a lawyer.

If you want to discuss this, I am happy to in PM but I won't discuss your private life out in the open as I can't help you unless I have some more info. What I know is if a doctor reaches out and states you are sick and needs to be off until they indicate otherwise, companies are required to follow the expert's opinion.

Sorry your going through this.
 
Bagua said:
Fight it out. If you are claiming PTSD from your workplace, it can evolve over time if there have been many days where you were subject to either emotional assault/distress or physical assault/distress. You need to make sure you have access to all your Incident reports. PTSD itself may manifest by showing signs of depression, anxiety and some physical ailments like hypertension. Your shrink will be the best ally in your case. A one-hour assessment is complicated to manage as a client, and many folks stumble through the entire thing. Make sure you are stumbling, and if you are not nervous, appear to be. The same goes for the company shrink. He/she will be assessing things that can't be assessed over the phone, like facial features (worry, sorrow, fear, anxiety) And body language such as fidgeting, toe-tapping, shifting in your chair, picking cuticles or fingernails.
Prep yourself because you probably do all these things now. Just make sure you are having a bad day because any client would be extremely nervous going on one of those appointments.
Click to expand...
Didn't read this before I wrote my response - @Bagua probably forgot more than most know on some of these subjects.
 
Thanks Golden rod!
Funny part is devote 30+ years providing top notch patient care. Recruit people I know to the job. I actually need help for a change and they crap on you!!
I was angry before. Now I am just tired.. Moving on is all I want to do now.

I am done.
 
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