this was in fact Parliament's in-
tention — consistency for work-
ers within each province, rather
than for federal workers across
Canada. Therefore, it didn't
matter if federal employees
working in other provinces were
entitled to benefits for gradual-
onset mental stress under those
provincial legislative regimes
— only New Brunswick's legisla-
tion mattered.
The only exception to this rule
was if there was a direct conflict
between the GECA and the pro-
vincial legislation.
The court noted that for a
direct conflict to exist in this
case, the GECA would have to
expressly include gradual onset
stress in the definition of acci-
dent, since the New Brunswick
Act expressly excluded it. How-
ever, there is no such exclusion in
the GECA, said the court.
"In the absence of such word-
ing, or some similar express
provision, no valid interpreta-
tion of the GECA can support a
finding that federal government
employees in New Brunswick
can be compensated for gradual
onset stress," said the court.
The court found that the ap-
peals tribunal undoubtedly felt
Mullin suffered from cumu-
lative mental stress that was
caused by his work environ-
ment and wasn't related to oth-
er factors outside work. Super-
vising inmates for more than a
decade while their numbers in-
creased and budgetary cuts cre-
ated circumstances with nega-
tivity that could easily lead to
mental stress and anxiety, said
the court.
In addition, the court noted
that the psychological assess-
ment report indicated Mullin's
stress was "nearly traumatic"
but wasn't an acute reaction to a
traumatic event, which failed to
meet the definition of "accident"
in the provincial act or Work-
SafeNB's policy on mental stress,
which set out an objective four-
part test to determine if mental
stress is compensable:
• The mental stress must be an
acute reaction to a sudden
and unexpected traumatic
event.
• The traumatic event must
have arisen out of and in
the course of the worker's
employment.
• The stress must not be caused
by a decision of the worker's
employer relating to the
management and monitoring
of the worker's employment.
• The stress must be a mental
or physical condition
described in the most recent
American Psychiatric
Association's Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders.
The court found that the evi-
dence showed Mullin's stress
developed gradually and there
was no sudden and unexpected
traumatic event to which Mullin
could have had an acute reac-
tion. In allowing Mullin's appeal
of the original WHSC decision,
the tribunal didn't follow the
provincial standards as set out
in legislation and the Work-
SafeNB policy on compensation
for mental stress. Therefore, the
tribunal erred in law when it
overturned the WHSC's denial
of Mullin's claim, said the court.
The court allowed CSC's ap-
peal and restored the original
decision by the WHSC denying
Mullin workers' compensation
benefits for gradual-onset men-
tal stress.
For more information see:
• Canada (Attorney General) v.
Mullin, 2016 CarswellNB 266
(N.B. C.A.).
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No mental stress < pg. 6
Consistency for workers within province
Federal benefits act gives federal
employees same benefits as other
workers in the province, not other
federal workers across the country
