On January 4, 2013, an employee of a restaurant owned by her mother endured a motor vehicle accident that left her unable to work for a period of time, even though she continued to receive her regular pay. With the parent claiming this pay was a gift, Aviva Insurance Canada classified it as post-accident income and deducted accordingly from the employees income replacement benefits (IRB).
The dispute over classification of money received from an employer post-accident forms the basis of a complicated case and some key learnings including:
- What constitutes a monetary "gift" between employer and employee
- The relevance of whether or not an employer has a disability policy in place
- How Temporary Disability benefits are defined
- When payments can and cannot be considered Other Income Replacement Assistance
- How the adjudicator in this case made their judgement
