This is not legal advice! What you are getting here is just general legal information. It is not a substitute for advice from an actual lawyer about your specific situation. If you need legal advice, we urge you to find a lawyer who can help you.
The Workers Compensation Board of PEI is an independent Prince Edward Island organization funded by Island employers that gives benefits and supports to people who’ve been injured at work. These can include replacement of lost wages, health care (including rehabilitation, counselling, and medications), and, in extreme situations, retraining.
Facts about the Workers Compensation Board
- The WCB functions like an insurance provider. Employers pay premiums to the WCB for the people who work for them. As a result, those people are entitled to benefits if they suffer a workplace injury.
- About 95% of workers are covered by the WCB because most workplaces are required by law to register with the board.
- Every year, the WCB assesses about 1,700 claims. It approves 90% of those claims.
- Since January 2025 the WCB covers psychological injuries due to work-related harassment and bullying.
- Before the definition of psychological injury was expanded in 2025, one percent of all claims accepted were for this type of harm.
- Sources: Workers Compensation Board of PEI Annual Report 2023, Workers Compensation Board of PEI, Association of Workers’ Compensation Boards of Canada
If you’ve been harmed by sexual harassment at work, you might think the WCB will help you.
- Maybe after you were harassed, you took time off work and so lost income.
- Maybe the harassment damaged your mental health, and you ended up needing to spend money on medication for anxiety or depression.
- Maybe the harassment had such an effect on you that you had to leave an industry and ended up needing to retrain for a new type of work in a different field.
Those are the kinds of expenses—replacement of lost wages, medication costs, retraining costs—that the WCB often covers.
Historically, the WCB has mostly handled claims related to physical injuries suffered by workers in male-dominated fields like construction, manufacturing, and uniform occupations like policing and firefighting. If you slip at work and break your ankle, or are struck by a falling object, or are injured in a fire or explosion: that is the kind of situation the WCB was designed for and has a lot of experience handling.
Since January 2025 the WCB has accepted claims for psychological injuries caused by workplace harassment. But at this writing not enough time has passed for us to say how likely that kind of claim would be successful. In many other jurisdictions they often aren’t accepted.
Psychological injury claims
The WCB defines ‘harassment’ as “inappropriate sexual conduct…including, but not limited to, sexual solicitations or advances, sexually suggestive remarks, jokes or gestures, circulating or sharing inappropriate images, or unwanted physical contact.” It’s most likely that a harasser will be a co-worker, though cases involving clients or members of the public might be accepted.
To make a claim you need a diagnosis from a psychiatrist or psychologist based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders-5. Examples include trauma disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. The reaction to the harmful behaviour must be “acute.”
The WCB won’t cover every kind of mental stress that arises at work. If you develop a mental health condition caused by your employer making changes to your shifts or other working conditions, for example, or firing you, or due to interpersonal conflicts that don’t involve harassment, you aren’t eligible to file a claim.
How to make a WCB claim
You can begin filing your claim on the WCB website. Claims must be made within six months by reporting to your employer, health-care provider or the WCB.
For more information
The WCB’s website includes a page covering frequently asked questions about psychological injuries due to work-related harassment.
Legal help
Representing yourself is possible when first making a claim. But if your claim is denied, appealing is more complicated. Here are some places that offer free or lower-cost legal services:
- The RISE program provides legal supports to PEI workers who have experienced workplace sexual harassment. This includes free legal advice from a lawyer for up to four hours.
- The Office of the Worker Advisor is an independent government agency that can provide information, advice, and representation to you throughout the WCB process. It also represents workers who appeal to the Workers Compensation Appeal Tribunal.
- Community Legal Information can help you understand the law and navigate the justice system. If it thinks you need to speak to a lawyer, it will refer you to one for a 45-minute consultation. The cost of this consultation is $25.
- JusticeNet is a not-for-profit service for those whose income is too high to qualify for legal aid but too low to afford regular legal fees. To qualify you must have a net family income under $70,000, or $90,000 if there are three or more people in your family, and be experiencing financial difficulties. Participating lawyers’ reduced rates vary depending on your family size and income.
- Your workplace union, association, or employee assistance program may be able to help you find legal services or cover part of your legal fees.
For advice on hiring a lawyer, see How to find and work with a lawyer.
