No Workers Comp Benefits for COVID-19 Mental Stress

In the midst of the COVID-19 outbreaks while everybody else was hunkering down at home, essential employees had to come to work and in many cases work extended hours. One such essential employee, a food service worker at a prison facility, filed a workers comp claim for the mental stress she said she developed as a result. But the claim was denied. Mental stress benefits are reserved for traumatic events, reasoned the BC Review Division, and don’t cover the kind of stress employees feel when their work conditions change or their jobs are in jeopardy [Review Reference #R0269567, Unreported].