Bill 163 explained in plain English
Supporting Ontario's First Responders Act (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder), 2016
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 41st Parliament, 1st Session. Representative vote breakdowns appear when the Assembly publishes an Ayes and Nays page for the bill.
Our plain-language take, written for civic education.
Source: By PoliticalData.ca
Bill 163 amends Ontario's Workplace Safety and Insurance Act and Ministry of Labour Act to provide benefits for certain workers diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder and to allow the Minister of Labour to collect information on PTSD prevention in workplaces.
This bill, titled the Supporting Ontario's First Responders Act (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder), 2016, amends the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997, and the Ministry of Labour Act. It aims to provide benefits to certain workers, specifically first responders and others in high-stress occupations, who are diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The bill also allows the Minister of Labour to collect information on how employers are working to prevent PTSD in the workplace. The changes took effect on the day the bill received Royal Assent.
- It amends the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997, to establish new rules for claims related to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for specific workers.
- It creates a presumption that PTSD in these workers arises out of and in the course of their employment, unless proven otherwise.
- It outlines conditions and timeframes for workers to be entitled to benefits for PTSD.
- It amends the Ministry of Labour Act to give the Minister of Labour the power to direct certain employers to provide information about their plans to prevent PTSD.
- It allows the Minister of Labour to use and publish information collected on PTSD prevention plans.
- First responders (e.g., firefighters, police officers, paramedics, ambulance service managers, emergency medical attendants, members of emergency response teams)
- Workers in correctional institutions
- Workers in places of secure custody or secure temporary detention (e.g., youth services workers and managers)
- Workers involved in dispatch
- Employers of the above-mentioned workers
- The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB)
- The Appeals Tribunal
- The Minister of Labour
- Certain workers have a right to benefits under the insurance plan for posttraumatic stress disorder if specific conditions are met.
- Employers of specific workers may be directed by the Minister of Labour to provide information on PTSD prevention plans.
- Employers must provide the requested information by the date and in the form specified by the Minister.
- The Act came into force on the day it received Royal Assent, which was April 6, 2016.
- The 'transition day' is defined as the day 24 months before section 2 of the Act comes into force. This is used for determining eligibility for claims.
- Claims related to PTSD diagnosed before section 2 of the Act comes into force must be filed within six months after section 2 comes into force.
- New claims made within six months after section 2 of the Act comes into force can include PTSD as described in the DSM-IV.
- The bill does not specify penalties for employers who fail to comply with directions from the Minister of Labour regarding information on PTSD prevention plans. It only states they 'shall provide the information'.
- The bill does not detail the specific 'plans' employers must have for preventing PTSD, only that the Minister can request information about them.
- The bill does not specify penalties for non-compliance with the Minister's request for information.
- The bill is unclear on what constitutes 'showing the contrary' to the presumption that PTSD arose from employment, which could lead to disputes in claims.
This act is amended to add a new section (Section 14) that establishes rules for entitlement to benefits for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for certain workers, including a presumption that the condition arose from their employment. It also changes Section 13 regarding entitlement to benefits for PTSD.
Source: Sections 1 and 2 of Bill 163
This act is amended to add a new section (Section 9.1) that gives the Minister of Labour the authority to require employers of specific workers to provide information on their plans to prevent posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the workplace. The Minister can use and publish this information.
Source: Section 3 of Bill 163
Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.
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Vote Summary
This bill does not have a published recorded division in the current official sources, so representative-by-representative vote counts are not shown.
No published representative vote breakdown
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Official sources
Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.
How this data is sourced