Quite literally, she disconnected from work immediately prior to the accident. Her employer, Air Canada, asserted that Mme Gentile-Patti was not working when she fell. She left her dedicated work area on the second floor to go to a separate space to eat. She disconnected from her workstation to take a lunch break-ensuring that there would be no further incoming customer calls. Mme Gentile-Patti fell down her stairs in her private residence in the middle of her workday. In Ontario, an accident at work includes, “a chance event occasioned by a physical or natural cause … arising out of and in the course of his or her employment.” In Québec, an accident at work consists of an “unforeseen and sudden event” which arises “out of or in the course of work.” The Québec Case of Air Canada et Gentile-Patti In Ontario, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997 outlines the statutory requirements for employees to qualify for workplace insurance benefits. The compensation aims to provide “physical, social and vocational rehabilitation” for an injured worker. In Québec, the Act respecting industrial accidents and occupational diseases provides the framework under which compensation is provided for employment injuries. A workplace insurance system is also called workers’ compensation. BackgroundĪ workplace insurance system provides benefits to employees who have been injured at work or who have workplace illnesses. The law will need to continue to evolve in response to these developments. Even as measures to combat the spread of COVID-19 are rolled back, many changes to the employment landscape may be here to stay. The decision also shows that employees need to be protected from harm wherever and however they work. This tribunal decision out of Québec signals that the law concerning working in virtual workplaces is still developing. This figure is more than seven times higher than it was in 2016. According to Statistics Canada, nearly a third of employees aged fifteen to sixty-four performed most of their work out of their homes from 2020 to 2021. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed where and how thousands of Canadians work. It occurred only moments after she disconnected from work to take a break and eat. To be clear, the injury at home was a workplace accident for compensation purposes. Ultimately, the Québec Administrative Labour Tribunal (“Tribunal Administratif Du Travail”) ruled that Mme Gentile-Patti was indeed entitled to compensation under the provincial framework for employment injuries. For this harm, she claimed workers’ compensation.Īir Canada contended that the fall had no connection to her employment i.e., she was at home and she was not working when she fell. After a few steps, she lost her footing and fell-sustaining an injury. On September 25, 2020, Mme Gentile-Patti took her lunch break and ventured downstairs. At the time, many Canadians brought their workplaces home to weather the pandemic. Seven months into the COVID-19 pandemic, Alexandria Gentile-Patti was working from home as a telephone customer service agent for Air Canada.
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