Fight with Co-Worker Isn’t Grounds for Workers Comp Mental Stress Benefits

For months, a worker fought with a colleague to get access to internal documents he needed to do his job. Then, one day things got downright hostile between the 2, leaving the worker so upset that he filed a workers comp claim for work-related mental stress. But the claim was denied. Hostility and tension between workers is a normal workplace condition rather than a traumatic event giving rise to a claim for mental stress benefits, the tribunal reasoned, even when the incident feels traumatic to the worker involved. The Qu‚bec court agreed and tossed the appeal [AB c. Administrative Labor Tribunal, 2021 QCCS 1089 (CanLII), March 30, 2021].