Registered Nurses and Registered Psychiatric Nurses now have presumptive coverage for PTSD

For immediate release: Thursday, July 24, 2025

As a result of an agreement reached in collective bargaining by United Nurses of Alberta, the provincial cabinet has extended presumptive coverage for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other traumatic mental health injuries to Registered Nurses, Registered Psychiatric Nurses, Graduate nurses, and undergraduate nurses.

After years of advocacy by front-line nurses, these nurses will no longer be forced to wait for – or be denied – access to Workers’ Compensation benefits after experiencing traumatic events while on the job.

“Extending this coverage to nurses means the Workers’ Compensation Board will presume that a nurse’s PTSD diagnosis was caused by the nurse’s work, unless the contrary is proved,” said UNA Labour Relations Director David Harrigan, who served as chief negotiator in the last round of bargaining.

“It also means that psychological injuries other than PTSD will be presumed to be caused by work when the nurse establishes that a traumatic event in the workplace took place, unless there is proof of a non-work cause,” he added.

“The government promised to make this change in bargaining, and we were very pleased to learn that they had fulfilled their commitment with this cabinet order,” Harrigan said. “This means nurses now have the same coverage already extended to other first responders such as police, firefighters, emergency medical workers, dispatchers, and correctional officers.”

Presumptive coverage for Registered Nurses and Registered Psychiatric Nurses was agreed to during bargaining for UNA’s provincial collective agreement earlier this year.

The amendment to the Workers’ Compensation Act Regulation was made through an Order-in-Council brought to cabinet by Minister of Jobs, Economy, Trade and Immigration Joseph Schow on July 23, 2025.

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