WCAT Decision Number:
A2001487 (August 8, 2022)
November 4 to 7, 2019 until these issues were resolved. What is in dispute is whether the online
safety courses which the employer arranged for the worker to do from home during the period
November 4 to 7, 2019 were physically suitable for the worker (i.e. were safe, and in keeping
with the worker’s medical restrictions, physical limitations, and abilities as required by policy
item #34.11).
[151] Based on Dr. Somani’s November 2, 2019 report and the RTW Functional Abilities Form that he
completed for the employer that day, I am satisfied that the selective/light duties that the
employer offered to the worker on November 4, 2019 for the period November 4 to 7, 2019 were
physically suitable for the worker as defined in policy item #34.11.
[152] Although the worker did not attempt these duties, I am also satisfied, on the basis of
Dr. Somani’s November 2, 2019 report and the RTW Functional Abilities Form that he
completed that day, that the light duties which the employer offered to the worker on November
7, 2019 which involved working from the employer’s head office commencing November 8, 2019
were physically suitable for the worker within the meaning of policy item #34.11.
Were the Worker’s Refusals of the Selective/Light Employment Offers Reasonable?
[153] However, based on the worker’s testimony, which echoes the information which she is reported
to have provided to a Board officer on November 18 and November 22, 2019, I consider it at
least as likely as not that working in front of a computer screen and trying to complete online
safety courses from home on November 4, 2019 made the ongoing and persistent headaches
which the worker experienced as a result of her October 28, 2019 work injuries, worse, thereby
rendering her continued participation in home- based online safety courses subsequent to
November 4, 2019 untenable.
[154] As a result I find as fact that it was reasonable for the worker to refuse to continue to participate
in these light duties during the period November 5-7, 2019. In reaching this conclusion, I put
significant weight on the fact that the worker was managing the physical injuries which had been
accepted under her claim without the benefit of pain medication because she was pregnant.
[155] I acknowledge that the employer’s HSE administrator stated in the October 26, 2021 letter
which she submitted in support of the employer’s position on Review Reference #R0267947
that the worker only worked on one course regarding construction safety for half an hour
on November 4, 2019. To the extent that this evidence conflicts with the worker’s oral testimony
regarding her efforts to do online coursework on November 4, 2019, I prefer the evidence of the
worker. I say this because the HSE administrator did not explain in her letter how she
ascertained the length of time that the worker spent doing online coursework on November 4,
2019; because the employer chose not to call the HSE administrator or any other witness to
testify at the oral hearing regarding this matter; and because the employer chose not to
challenge the worker’s testimony regarding this issue by way of cross-examination.
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