Law360 Canada ( November 22, 2017, 8:26 AM EST) -- Stated case from the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Tribunal (WCAT) to determine whether the five-year audiogram rule in Board Policy 1.2.5AR1 (Policy), which addressed entitlement to benefits for occupational hearing loss, was inconsistent with the Workers’ Compensation Act (Act). The appellant retired in 2007 after being employed as a shipwright for 50-55 years. In 2015, he had his hearing tested and was diagnosed with sensorineural hearing loss bilaterally for which binaural amplification was recommended. The appellant filed a claim for occupational noise-induced hearing loss with the Board in 2016. A Hearing Loss Adjudicator (Adjudicator) denied the appellant’s claim because he did not meet the criteria of the Policy which required a worker to have an audiogram within five years of leaving the workplace where it was alleged exposure to excessive noise occurred in order to be considered for entitlement to compensation. A Hearing Officer upheld the Adjudicator’s decision, confirming the finding that the claim was barred by the operation of the five-year audiogram rule in the Policy. Upon appeal of the Hearing Officer’s decision to the WCAT, the Appeal Commissioner found that in all other respects, the appellant was entitled to be adjudicated for occupational hearing loss, but that the five-year audiogram rule precluded such an adjudication....