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Psychosocial Risks in Labour and Social Security Law pp 291–304Cite as

Workers’ Compensation for Work-Related Mental Health Problems: An Overview of Quebec Law

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Part of the book series: Aligning Perspectives on Health, Safety and Well-Being ((AHSW))

Abstract

A comparative analysis of public policies on mental health at work suggests that laws to prevent occupational health problems are more likely to cover workers’ mental health when occupational injury programs include compensation for mental health problems.This chapter is divided into two sections. The first, based on data from Quebec, describes workers’ exposure to psychosocial risks and associated health problems, and outlines how the organizations responsible for compensation deal with workers’ compensation claims. The second part describes the workers’ compensation legal framework in Quebec that applies to claims for work-related mental health problems. The conclusion provides suggestions for ensuring better management of mental health problems attributable to work.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Mattei B., “La normalisation des accidents du travail: l’invention du risque professionnel”, Les Temps modernes, 1976, 354, pp. 988–1003; Lippel K., Droit des accidentés du travail à une indemnisation: Analyse historique et critique, Éditions Thémis, 1986, 269 p. Ison, T. G. “A Historical perspective on contemporary challenges in Workers’ Compensation”, Osgoode Hall Law Journal, 1996, 34 (4), pp. 807–834.

  2. 2.

    In Quebec: Lippel K., “Droit des travailleurs québécois en matière de santé, 1885–1981”, Revue Juridique Thémis (1981–1982), Vol. 16, pp. 329–382; in Ontario: Tucker E., “Making the Workplace “Safe” in Capitalism: The Enforcement of Factory Legislation in Nineteenth-Century Ontario”, Labour/Le Travail, 1988 Vol. 21 pp. 45–85; in the UK: Carson W. G., “The conventionalisation of early factory crime”, International Journal of the Sociology of Law, 1979, 7(1), pp. 37–60; in Australia: Johnstone R. Occupational Health and Safety, Courts and Crime: The Legal Construction of Occupational Health and Safety Offences in Victoria, Sydney, The Federation Press, 2003.

  3. 3.

    Walters D., Johnstone R., Frick K., Quinlan M., Baril-Gingras G., Thébaud-Mony A., Regulating Workplace Risks, Edward Elgar, 2011, 378 p.

  4. 4.

    Guthrie R., Ciccarelli M., Babic A., “Work-related stress in Australia: The effects of legislative interventions and the cost of treatment”, International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 2010, 33, pp. 101–115.

  5. 5.

    Johnstone R., Quinlan M., McNamara M., “OHS inspectors and psychosocial risk factors: Evidence from Australia”, Safety Science, 2011, 49, pp. 547–557.

  6. 6.

    Chagnon et Marché Bel-Air inc., [2000] CLP 388.

  7. 7.

    Act respecting Occupational health and safety (AOHS), RSQ c. S-2.1.

  8. 8.

    Act respecting Industrial accidents and occupational diseases (AIAOD), RSQ c. A-3.001.

  9. 9.

    An Act to amend the Act respecting labour standards and other legislative provisions, 2002, QS c. 80.

  10. 10.

    Vézina M., Cloutier E., Stock S., Lippel K., Fortin E. and alii, Enquête québécoise sur des conditions de travail, d’emploi, et de santé et de sécurité du travail (EQCOTESST), Québec, Institut de recherche Robert-Sauvé en santé et sécurité du travail - Institut national de santé publique du Québec et Institut de la statistique du Québec, 2011, 706 p. http://www.inspq.qc.ca/pdf/publications/1336_EnqQuebCondTravailEmpSantSecTravail.pdf; Summary http://www.irsst.qc.ca/en/-irsst-publication-quebec-survey-working-employment-conditions-occupational-health-safety-eqcotesst-rr-707.html.

  11. 11.

    Statistique Canada, http://www.statcan.gc.ca.

  12. 12.

    EQCOTESST, ibid. p. 609 and Table 9.6.

  13. 13.

    Art. 81.18 ALS.

  14. 14.

    EQCOTESST op. cit., p. 362.

  15. 15.

    Cox R., Lippel K., “Falling through the legal cracks: the pitfalls of using workers’ compensation data as indicators of work-related injuries and illnesses”, Policy and Practice in Health and Safety, 2008, 6(2), pp. 9–30.

  16. 16.

    EQCOTESST op. cit., p. 494.

  17. 17.

    EQCOTESST op. cit., p. 557.

  18. 18.

    EQCOTESST op. cit., Table 9.15.

  19. 19.

    CSST, Statistiques sur les lésions attribuables à la violence en milieu de travail, 2010–2013, Québec, 2015, Tables 2 and 3.

  20. 20.

    CSST, Statistiques sur les lésions attribuables au stress en milieu de travail, 2010–2013, Québec, 2015, Tables 12 and 22.

  21. 21.

    For an analysis of the recognition of these injuries from a historical perspective, see: K. Lippel, Le stress au travail: L’indemnisation des atteintes à la santé en droit québécois, canadien et américain, Éditions Yvon Blais, Cowansville, 1992. For the current status of the law on this issue, see: Lippel, K., Cox, R., I. Aubé, “Droit de la santé au travail régissant les problèmes de santé mentale: prévention, indemnisation et réadaptation”, dans K. Lippel, G. Vallée (dirs.), JurisClasseur Québec, coll. “Droit du Travail”, Santé et sécurité du travail, fasc. 27, Montréal, LexisNexis Canada, feuilles mobiles, 2017; Lippel, K., Sikka, A., “Access to Workers’ Compensation benefits and other legal protections for work-related mental health problems: a Canadian Overview”, Revue canadienne de santé publique/Canadian Journal of Public Health, 2010, Vol. 101, n° S.1, p. S-16-S22.

  22. 22.

    Blagoeva et Comm. contrôle énergie atomique, [1992] C.A.L.P. 898, requête en révision judiciaire rejetée, [1993] C.A.L.P. 60 (C.S.), http://www2.clp.gouv.qc.ca/sites/clpq/memento05.nsf/c463c0aef5b71bcc8525683400594f09/b74aea51725c8bbd852578e10072ca81?OpenDocument.

  23. 23.

    Askenazy P., Cartron D., de Coninck F., Gollac M. (dir.), Organisation et intensité du travail, Octarès, 2006, 532 p.

  24. 24.

    Lippel K., Cox R. JurisClasseur Québec, op. cit., paragraphs 45–46.

  25. 25.

    JurisClasseur Québec, ibid., paragraph 78.

  26. 26.

    Aubé I., “Modes alternatifs de règlement des litiges relatifs au harcèlement Policy and Practice in Health and psychologique”, Reg@rds sur le travail, 2009, Vol. 5, n° 2, pp. 13–18.

  27. 27.

    Lavoie A., “Suicide et lésion professionnelle, une équation complexe” in Barreau du Québec (dir), Développements récents en droit de la santé et sécurité au travail 2009, Éditions Yvon Blais, 2009, pp. 226–259.

  28. 28.

    M.L. (Succession) et SNC Lavalin Profac Inc et CSST, [2005] CLP 1122.

  29. 29.

    We described our methodology in detail in several articles reporting the results of studies on rulings handed down during earlier periods than those examined here. Lippel K., “Workers’ Compensation and Stress: Gender and Access to Compensation”, International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 1999, Vol. 22, no 1 79-89; Lippel K., “Droit et statistiques: réflexions méthodologiques sur la discrimination systémique dans le domaine de l’indemnisation pour les lésions professionnelles”, Revue femmes et droit, 2002, Vol. 14, n° 2 pp. 362–388; Lippel K., “Le harcèlement psychologique au travail: portrait des recours juridiques au Québec et des décisions rendues par la Commission des lésions professionnelles”, Revue Pistes, Vol. 2005 7, n° 3, http://www.pistes.uqam.ca/v7n3/articles/v7n3a13.htm.

  30. 30.

    Figure 17.2 was first published in Lippel, K., “Reglamentacion para la proteccion de los objetivos de acoso psicologico en Québec: Una vision géneral de los mecanismos de prevencion y compensacion/Regulatory protections for targets of psychological harassment in Québec: an overview of prevention and compensation mechanisms, International Yearbook on the Prevention of Psychosocial risk and quality of life in the working environment” in Rufino San José M., Molina Navarete C., Gonzalez Vicente E., Anuario internacional sobre prevencion de riesgos psicosociales y calidad de vida en el trabajo, UGT, Espagne, 2011, pp. 113–129.

  31. 31.

    Lippel, K., 1999, op cit; Lippel K., 2002, op. cit.

  32. 32.

    Lippel K., 2005, op. cit. This results from the application of article 123.16 of the Labour Standards Act, R.S.Q. c. N-1.1.

  33. 33.

    Cox, R., “From Sexual to Psychological Harassment: One Step Forward, Twenty-Five Years Back for Women’s Equality at Work?” In: Day, S., Lamarche, L. & Norman, K. (eds.) 14 Arguments in Favour of Human Rights Institutions. Toronto: The Federation Press; Irwin Law (Canada), 237–276, 2014.

  34. 34.

    See for example: Larochelle et Motel Harricana inc et CSST, 2007 QCCLP 4430; Lajoie et Québec (Ministère de la Sécurité publique), 2008 QCCLP 3465; Chevalier et Travaux Publics Canada, 2013 QCCLP 662.

  35. 35.

    Godin et Direction des ressources humaines du Canada, Direction Travail, CLP 158428-62-0104, 23 sept. 2002.

  36. 36.

    Claims accepted under the heading of occupational diseases: Plouffe Leblanc et CHUS, CLPE 2003LP-97; Laflamme et DRHC Direction travail, CLP 141372-07-0006, 15 novembre 2000; Boivin, Sansfaçon et Blackburn et DRHC Direction-travail, [2001] n° AZ-01300852 (C.L.P.), 15 mai 2001.

  37. 37.

    V…G… et Commission scolaire A, 2012 QCCLP 7944.

  38. 38.

    Belleau et Agence Canadienne d’Inspection des aliments DRHC-Direction Travail et CSST, 2003 CLP 183217-01A-0204; see also Roy et Élevages Lessard inc et CSST, CLPE 2004LP-157.

  39. 39.

    Perron et Suzy Shier inc., CLP 215789-61-0309, 21 September 2004.

  40. 40.

    Société en Commandite A et J…B…, 2013 QCCLP 2764, paragraph 127.

  41. 41.

    Lippel K., Vézina M., Cox R., “Protection of workers’ mental health in Québec: Do general duty clauses allow labour inspectors to do their job?”, Safety Sci., 2011, Vol. 49, n°. 4, pp. 582–590.

  42. 42.

    Lippel K., “Preserving workers’ dignity in workers’ compensation systems: an international perspective”, American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 2012, Vol. 55, n° 6, pp. 519–536, http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajim.22022/pdf.

  43. 43.

    St.-Arnaud L., Bourbonnais R., Saint-Jean M., Rhéaume J., “Determinants of return-to-work among employees absent due to mental health problems”, Relations Industrielles/Industrial Relations, 2007, Vol. 62, n° 4, pp. 690–713; St.-Arnaud L., Retour au travail après un congé de maladie, Les Éditions Caractère inc., Montréal, 2015.

  44. 44.

    EQCOTESST, supra note 10, chapter 6; Biron, C., Brun, J.P., Ivers, H., Cooper, C.L., “At work but ill: psychosocial work environment and well-being determinants of presenteeism propensity”, Journal of Public Mental Health, 2006, Vol. 5, n° 4, pp. 26–37.

  45. 45.

    Lippel, K., Sikka, A., op. cit.

  46. 46.

    Cox R., Les effets du rôle accordé aux syndicats par le Projet de loi 143 sur la mise en œuvre et la réception du droit àun milieu de travail exempt de harcèlement psychologique ainsi que sur l’action syndicale au Québec, doctoral thesis in law accepted by the Faculty of Graduate Studies at the University of Ottawa, 2014; Cox, R., “Québec unions' role with respect to complaints of psychological harassment in the workplace: the peril and promise of implementing individual rights through collective labour relations”, Policy and Practice in Health and Safety, 2015, Vol. 13, no 2 pp. 69-86.

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  1. Canada Research Chair in Occupational Health and Safety Law, Civil Law Section, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada

    Katherine Lippel

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Correspondence to Katherine Lippel .

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  1. COMPTRASEC UMR5114, CNRS, University of Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France

    Loïc Lerouge

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Lippel, K. (2017). Workers’ Compensation for Work-Related Mental Health Problems: An Overview of Quebec Law. In: Lerouge, L. (eds) Psychosocial Risks in Labour and Social Security Law. Aligning Perspectives on Health, Safety and Well-Being. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63065-6_17

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