The evidence supported a WCJ’s finding that a “no-holds-barred” meeting, at which a former police officer was singled out for criticism, and which digressed into an abusive, vulgar, shouting match, was an extraordinary and unusual event, such...
The Supreme Court of Kentucky, reiterating that for Kentucky workers’ compensation claims, mental or psychological injuries were not compensable unless they were the “direct result” of a physical injury, affirmed an award of permanent total disability benefits...
In a divided decision, an Arizona appellate court affirmed the denial of a police officer’s PTSD claim, agreeing with the state’s Industrial Commission that the officer had failed to show that he had been subjected to “unexpected, unusual or extraordinary” stress...
The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, construing W. Va. Code § 23-4-1f, pursuant to which mental injury claims are generally disqualified from coverage unless caused by physical means, affirmed the denial of a claim filed by a gaming parlor cashier who...
The 52-week filing requirement related to first responder PTSD claims in § 112.1815(5)(d), Fla. Stat., runs from the date of the qualifying event specified in the statute and not from the date the first responder manifests PTSD symptoms, held a Florida appellate...
Construing Alaska Stat. §§ 23.30.107 and 23.30.107, the Supreme Court of Alaska held that with regard to an worker who had sought workers' compensation benefits, the employer was entitled to have access to the worker's mental health records reaching back...
Prior to a 2013 amendment to Minn. Stat. § 176.011, subd. 16, Minnesota provided no workers’ compensation coverage for mental injuries that had a mental stimulus as their origin. Since then, however, coverage has been provided to those employees diagnosed...
A Florida appellate court recently held that the state’s six-month limitation for temporary benefits for psychiatric injuries (which follow a physical injury) [see § 440.093(3), Fla. Stat.] is constitutional and that such benefits were not available to the claimant...
A county public defender, who alleged that she sustained a mental injury in the form of PTSD following a harrowing period of time in which she was allegedly stalked and harassed by a "client," may move ahead with a civil action filed against her employer...
Substantial evidence supported the Workers' Compensation Board's factual determination that the claimant's depressive condition was not compensable, because claimant's supervisors described normal oversight and monitoring practices undertaken to...
An Iowa appellate court affirmed the denial of a psychiatrist’s petition to reopen his prior workers' compensation settlement agreement in which he alleged that he had developed a mental disorder as a result of his original injuries and that such disorder amounted...
A North Carolina appellate court affirmed the dismissal—on exclusive remedy grounds—of a civil action filed by a former bank employee against her former employer and supervisor alleging that the defendants had failed to exercise reasonable care and provide her...
Construing the Supreme Court of Ohio’s important, earlier decision in Armstrong v. John R. Jurgensen Co. , 136 Ohio St. 3d 58, 2013-Ohio-2237, 990 N.E.2d 568, a lower-level Ohio appellate court held that while there must be a causal relationship between a claimant...
CALIFORNIA COMPENSATION CASES Vol. 83 No. 2 Feb 2018 A Report of En Banc and Significant Panel Decisions of the WCAB and Selected Court Opinions of Related Interest, With a Digest of WCAB Decisions Denied Judicial Review CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE © Copyright...
A Virginia appellate court affirmed, in relevant part, a state Workers’ Compensation Commission’s finding that a firefighter paramedic’s work-related experiences over his 17-year career caused his post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), not family...