Washington: No Occupational Disease Award Available for PTSD

Acknowledging that in Washington there were some circumstances in which an employee could recover for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), e.g., if it had been caused by a sudden and tangible happening, and had occurred “from without,” [see Wash. Rev. Code § 51.08.100], a Washington appellate court held there could be no recovery for PTSD on occupational disease grounds [see Wash. Rev. Code § 51.08.100). Accordingly, where a public defender was stalked and intimidated by a criminal defendant who had, ironically enough, been charged with felony stalking, she could not recover PTSD benefits since there was no sudden and traumatic event.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is co-author of Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law (LexisNexis).

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance.

See LaRose v. Department of Labor & Indus., 2020 Wash. App. LEXIS 169 (Jan. 27, 2020)

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 56.04.

Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law

For a more detailed discussion of the case, see

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