Appeals commission looks at links to workplace with back injury
nsation coverage by an Alberta appeals body.
On June 4, 2026, the Appeals Commission for Alberta Workers' Compensation reversed a Dec. 13, 2024 decision by the Dispute Resolution and Decision Review Body, which had upheld the Workers' Compensation Board's denial of his claim.
Neither the employer nor the Board took part in the appeal.
Back injury at fire station
On August 16, 2023, the firefighter was playing wallyball with his crew in their fire station when he moved suddenly and felt pain in his lower back. A family doctor and a physiotherapist confirmed a lower back sprain, and no one disputed he was hurt while playing.
What was disputed was whether the injury happened on the job and if he was entitled to workers’ compensation. The Board denied the claim on Aug. 31, 2023, on the basis that the injury was not work-related. Under Board policy, injuries from sports and athletic activities generally are not covered, with a few exceptions.
The firefighter argued his game fit two of those. He said it was a competitive sport his employer had pre-authorized that lined up with his duties or, alternatively, that he was hurt using employer facilities to maintain a required fitness level.
His fire captain, who is also a union representative, and an expert witness, backed him at the hearing.
Employer authorized game
The panel first decided whether wallyball was a competitive sport under Board policy, which defines the term broadly as any sport played against another person or team. The firefighter's representative argued the opposite, noting there were no leagues, set teams, referees, trophies or prizes, and that the crew did not care about the score.
The panel acknowledged that description but said it was bound by the policy's wording. Because wallyball is played against an opposing side, it qualified regardless of how relaxed the games were.
The panel also found the injury came from the activity itself, relying on the firefighter's own injury report and his doctor's account.
Coverage still required that the employer had pre-authorized the game. The panel found it had, pointing to facilities stocked with wallyball equipment for firefighters' exclusive use, station guidelines, and bulletins issued in 2020 and 2021 that temporarily banned indoor group fitness during the pandemic. The expert witness, meanwhile, described firefighters as "tactical athletes."
Fitness as part of job
The final question was whether playing wallyball was consistent with the firefighter's regular duties. The panel acknowledged wallyball is not an explicit job requirement but agreed that an activity does not need to appear on a job description to be consistent with the work.
It leaned on the employer's own documents to make the link. Job postings called for an ongoing commitment to physical fitness and the ability to sustain intense physical activity, the collective agreement confirmed a joint wellness and fitness initiative, and that initiative recommended 60 to 90 minutes of on-duty fitness each shift.
The worker, his captain and the expert all described group games as a way to build the trust and quick teamwork that firefighting demands.
Quoting the employer's own job analysis, the panel noted the physical toll of the role: "The job of a firefighter is well known to be one of the most physically demanding and hazardous of all civilian occupations". It found the firefighter had an acceptable claim and reversed the decision under appeal.
