What is the legal test for a workplace injury to be a compensable one in workers’ compensation law?

British Columbia, Canada


The following excerpt is from WCAT-2013-02442 (Re), 2013 CanLII 79515 (BC WCAT):

As set out by policy items #C3-12.00 and #C3-14.00, the legal test for an injury to be found to be a compensable one in workers’ compensation law is the test of causative significance. It is well established in B.C. that the issue of causation or, as in this case, aggravation, requires evidence that something in the employment had causative significance in producing the injury. Work does not have to be the sole cause (Chima v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Tribunal, 2009 BCSC 1574) nor the dominant cause of a worker’s injury (Schulmeister v. British Columbia (Workers’ Compensation Appeal Tribunal), 2007 BCSC 1580), be it physical or psychological. Work need only be of causative significance, or more than a de minimis factor. However, a speculative possibility that there was something in the employment that had causative significance is not enough.

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