Introduction
In Decision No. 831/22, the Tribunal heard a worker’s appeal of his permanent impairment rating where he had both a physical brain injury and a separate psychological impairment.
Vice-Chair Eleanor Smith addressed this question by reading the applicable Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) policies and the American Medical Association Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment (“the AMA Guides”) together, to determine how to assess the worker’s impairment.
Vice-Chair Smith reviewed three alternative ways to assess the worker’s impairment. She found the appropriate process was to first assess the psychotraumatic symptoms on a holistic basis, and then to adjust the award to reflect the portion of the psychotraumatic award that overlaps with the organic award. She also found that the Combined Values Chart (CVC) in the AMA Guides was not applicable, since the worker’s impairments were not sufficiently discrete for the CVC to apply.