A woman who was a federal employee when she was injured by a piece of lumber that fell from the roof of the Elijah Smith Building in downtown Whitehorse can sue for damages.

Following the injury to Linda Hill in April 2012, Ketza Construction of Whitehorse, SNC Lavalin – the company that maintains the building – and construction worker Jason Tomandl attempted to block Hill’s right to sue.

The Yukon Supreme Court dismissed the application.

The Yukon Court of Appeal upheld the decision, though for different reasons.

Ketza, SNC Lavalin and Tomandl asked the Supreme Court of Canada last August to hear an appeal, but the high court dismissed the request this morning.

In dismissing applications for leave to appeal, the Supreme Court of Canada does not provide reasons.

As a result of the decision, the Yukon Court of Appeal decision will stand, and Hill will have the right to sue for damages.

The legal arguments in the case were somewhat complicated. They boil down to the interpretation of historical legislation that led to the creation of Canada’s approach to provide compensation and rehabilitation for injured workers.

Hill was injured by a piece of falling lumber.

Because responsibility for federal employees in the Yukon has been contracted out to Alberta’s compensation board, Alberta’s board notified Hill.

The board told her she could proceed with a claim for workers’ compensation or file a lawsuit against the parties responsible for the injury, according to court documents.

Hill chose to file a lawsuit.

But SNC, Ketza and Tomandl objected.

Their argument, essentially, was that even though Hill was a federal employee, she was bound by the same principles of compensation that apply to other civil servants and private sector employees in Canada.

Those principles prevent employees from suing their employers, in return for the right to receive compensation and rehabilitation benefits from a fund paid for by employers.

SNC had been contracted by the federal government to provide maintenance to federal buildings in Canada, and SNC had hired Ketza to do some work.

A founding principle for workers’ compensation across Canada is the tradeoff between the guarantee to receive compensation and inability to sue employers.

With the exception of the federal government, all employers in Canada, including territorial and provincial governments, pay into a fund that supports the program to compensate and rehabilitate injured workers.

But to make the system work, employers who paid into the fund were given protection against lawsuits from employees back in the early 1900s, according to historical documents.

The federal government does not have a compensation board, though it does have legislation ensuring the rights and protection of injured workers.

Ottawa is self-insured, and any need to pay compensation to injured workers or provide rehabilitation services comes out of general revenue – taxes.

It does not have an independent compensation structure to administer and adjudicate claims, such as the Yukon’s compensation board.

Rather, the federal government contracts out compensation services to provincial compensation boards that ensure the same level of services provided to other employees in the province are also provided to federal employees.

And Ottawa reimburses the cost for administration and any cost of claims.

The Alberta board was contracted in 1995 to provide the services for federal employees in the Yukon and the N.W.T.

SNC and Ketza essentially argued Hill was prevented from suing under the same principle that employees in Alberta and across Canada cannot sue their employers.

Justice John Vertes of the Yukon Supreme Court ruled in July 2015 that the federal legislation providing for the protection and rights of federal employees does not carry the restriction prohibiting them from the suing the federal government.

The Yukon Court of Appeal agreed in its ruling last August, though for somewhat varying reasons.

In its decision, the Court of Appeal noted one substantial difference was that in the provinces and territories, employers pay into the compensation fund.

Ottawa makes no such payment.

Rather, any payments required to support injured federal workers come right out of Ottawa’s consolidated revenue fund.

With this morning’s decision denying SNC, Ketza and Tomandl the right to appeal, the Yukon Court of Appeal decision will stand.

Consequently, Hill will have the right to sue.