I experienced extreme burnout and a traumatic event at work which led to PTSD diagnosis. I have been off work since August 2024 and received LTD benefits starting March 2024. I am in the ‘own occupation’ category for a total of two years before it moves to any occupation. It has become clear to me that I will be unable to return to my own occupation given the very specific triggers associated with it. Without revealing too much personal information or the nature of my injury, I also have very specific triggers about working for an employer or someone who has authority over me, and would like to ultimately work for myself to avoid this. I want to get on with my life, and retrain. Right now, I would have the capacity to learn for a couple of hours a day in a part time program. This would likely be supported by my medical team. In my case, learning a couple of hours a day is much different than going to work for an employer in my own occupation for a couple hours a day- it would not be possible to attend a job for an employer right now without worsening of my symptoms. What is the likelihood that I would be able to maintain my LTD benefits while attending this program to retrain. I am paying for the program myself. If I don’t have the capacity to do it, I stop. If I do, I will have a new career and ability to work for myself and ease into self employment. I want to get off LTD and be productive. We can’t financially afford to lose the LTD benefits for a year while I retrain. Is this possible? Have you heard of this being successful before? Is there anything I should be careful of navigating and looking out for when doing this? I plan on being completely up front with the case manager and my health team of course, but I need to know my chances and odds before I decide to bring this up. Thank you for this wonderful forum.
Hi, I think the only way this would be possible would be as part of a return to work program. It is as you have guessed a high risk area. I would book a consultation with Resolute Legal before doing anything.
Sorry to hear about your injury. There are so many who have been thrown under the bus and now fending for ourselves with no federal Ombusperson office or advocate. This forum is the only thing out there for discussion at this level.
DI companies include provisions for back to work such as training. But the risk is they will reduce or cut your benefits. The whole goal is to get you back to work asap - before you are ready - so they can wash their hands of paying out. It takes ocer 2 years to get to “Long duration” disability with the company I am with so they are less likely to chop you and say you are not needing benefits. They have to decide if you are a write off, reallt injured to the point they cannot pressure you back to work. If they know you are trying or volunteering there is a risk they will push you further.
If you get CPP - D then there is a more balanced approach. They never tell you about this but I found it.
Vocational Rehabilitation Program for Canada Pension Plan
Here you can retrain and they even recognize with AI that a person with a perm disability might be able to do some work. The re training is no charge and they will not cut your benefits. Also if you burn out within 2 yrs you get automatically reinstated to get your benefits.
It is literally the only program that I’ve seen that is designed to really help and not threaten, punish or create further harm and let you let you you try to build a new life.
Excellent advice Neo11. I’ve heard that once on CPP-D their support in retraining is pretty good, better than any insurance company is going to support you. I’ve no experience though, but that is what I’ve heard. In my experience, which seems to be pretty ‘normal’ , the closer I got to the 2 years date (change of definition) on LTD the more the insurance company was pushing me to go back to work. I was adament I couldn’t go back to work, so they had me do a functional assessment (FCE) as well as a psycho-vocational assessment. That gave them enough ammo to determine I can do “any” occupation and therefore ended my LTD payments. I also had a severe burn-out at work, and still have PTSD when the thought of return to work comes up.
Hi thank you for sharing you experience and concerns. What you are proposing make a lot of sense in that it would enable to you transition from LTD –> paid employment, which is in both your interest and that of the insurance company. My suggestion would be as others have suggested to try to use the CPP Vocational Rehab program if you have that available. Be up front with your LTD insuer, it is unlikely they would agree to the arrangement you discuss but I have been suprised before withe them agreeing with things. So no harm in checking with them. Get your doctor to confirm you ongoing limitations and how you can manage this program. The more the program is done on a regular basis with set times and regular hours per week, the more the insurer can use it to show you have capacity to work without returning to school. The best thing is to be upfront with them and try your best. Some insurers have rehabilitation programs that could fit something like this, but that would be unusual. If the return to school fails fails because of your illness, then you can try to get back on long-term disability.
David Brannen
Disability Lawyer with Resolute Legal
The response posted above is based on the limited factual information made available and is not intended as a full and complete response to the question. The only reliable manner to obtain complete and adequate legal advice is to consult with a lawyer, fully explain your situation, and allow the lawyer enough time to research the applicable law and facts required to give an adequate opinion. The basic information provided above is intended as a public service only, a full one-on-one discussion with a lawyer should be done before taking any any action. The information posted on this forum is available to the viewing public and is not intended to create a lawyer client relationship with any person. If you want one-on-one advice, please click here to request a free consultation or call toll free 1-877-917-7050 to speak with a member with our disability claim support team.
It’s additive and compounding stress which isn’t at all factored into the designation of a mental stress injury or medical retirement. And certainly no interest or avenue from any of the offices, institutions or tribunals noted below. There is zero means to add evidence stemming from administrative encounters (blocking, delaying, obfuscating, out right LYING, filing false and or misleading reports (as in your employer writing to WSIB and saying you have a pre-existing condition to which a medical doctor has refuted with evidence to the contrary) to an existing claim and have it treated as “credible evidence” that has equal weighting to the originally reported event(s). Other example of “things” that can be done and are waved off as “operational prerogatives” - refusing to release personnel records, refusal to release investigation mandates or any records of management meetings and decisions on your file, refusing to comply with document release to WSIB, failing to complete and submit employer DI insurance forms, failing to manage a procedurally fair harassment investigation, kicking the can down the road for years and then closing it without any witnesses interviewed or draft report, citing too much time had passed, and many more…. But evidently that’s just normalized and has no impact on an injured worker!
There is either a build up to complex PTSD or a sudden event / both to which many institutions remain willfully or otherwise ignorant of their participation in these, and the compounding that happens while trying to get help through “official channels” - this isn’t all of them but I’ve never found a map or listing of ALL of these with any guidance and instructions / guidance on navigating ACROSS institutions and processes: Dept’s HR, Health Canada, unions, legal council (if not unionized) and the various offices (ATIP, Privacy), FPSLREB, or CIRB, TBS harassment policy and harassment investigation, Fed review court, WSIB/WSAIT, ESDC Canada Labour Code complaints, CPP-D, CPP Service Canada, Pay Centre, Pension center, ombudsman (if there is one in your dept). With over 8 yrs experience in all of the above (except court) I could do that mapping!!
Knowing now what I do know, I’d go to management, HR and keep going up the chain. Someone will respond by finding a place outside of direct contact to avoid a grievance against them. I would never have left the workplace. They wouldn’t actually do anything about the problem except get rid of you as you become their problem and that’s the way it goes. I have correspondence from the highest level in the organization who rejected my return to work proposal he asked me to do - he blocked me from returning to the department refused to do anything that could’ve helped reintegrate and he got away with it. Not only that he got promoted out to a different department and no one said a goddamn thing despite my raising it - even to the head if the public service. The system doesn’t protect the injured. It protects the organization. It protects the DMs and their careers.