Worker Claims Mental Stress because Her Parents Were Harassed

A father, mother and daughter all worked at the same company. The father and mother left the firm after being threatened and harassed by the same co-worker. A year later, the daughter was assigned to the department with that co-worker. Already suffering with depression and anxiety, she feared for her safety, took leave and claimed workers’ comp benefits for work-related stress. No dice, said the Ontario WSIB. While the harassment of her parents clearly affected the daughter, it wasn’t objectively traumatic especially since she never actually witnessed it. And she couldn’t prove chronic stress either since she wasn’t personally harassed [20190069 (Re), 2019 CanLII 26556 (ON WSIB), April 4, 2019].