Two recent proposals in the 132nd Ohio General Assembly, House Bill 161 and Senate Bill 118, would make safety service workers with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) eligible for workers’ compensation, without requiring them to show an accompanying physical injury.
If passed, this legislation would be a departure from current Ohio law on the compensability of psychological conditions. The Ohio Supreme Court has previously held that psychological or psychiatric conditions that do not arise from a compensable physical injury or occupational disease are excluded from the definition of “injury” under the Workers’ Compensation Act. McCrone v. Bank One Corp. (2005). While mental conditions are compensable, a compensable physical injury sustained by the injured worker must cause the mental condition. Armstrong v. John R. Jurgensen Co. (2013). According to the National Institute of Mental Health, PTSD is a disorder that develops in some people who have experienced a shocking, scary, or dangerous event. People who have PTSD may feel stressed or frightened even when they are not in danger. Symptoms usually begin early, within 3 months of the traumatic incident, but sometimes they begin years afterward. PTSD can cause flashbacks, bad dreams, frightening thoughts, avoidance, being easily startled, feeling tense or “on edge”, difficulty sleeping, having angry outbursts, memory problems, and others. The main treatments for PTSD are medications and psychotherapy.
The proposed legislation would not cover all injured workers, only certain first responders such as police officers, firefighters and emergency medical workers who are diagnosed with PTSD that has been received in the course of and arising out of their employment. The injured worker would then be eligible for compensation and benefits under Ohio’s Workers’ Compensation Law for up to one year. However, the employee is unable to collect a disability benefit from a state retirement system for PTSD during the same time period that he or she is collecting workers’ compensation for the same injury.
Similar legislation was introduced in Ohio Senate Bill 5 during the 131st General Assembly, but was not enacted. At that time, the BWC estimated that formerly proposed law could cost impacted employers $182,000,000 per year. (ORC 4121.125 Actuarial Analysis of Pending Legislation, July 13, 2015). That estimate assumed that 18% of first responders would file for PTSD benefits at any one time; in other states, up to 36% reported PTSD. The BWC has not yet issued an actuarial analysis of House Bill 161 and Senate Bill 118.
FHKAD will continue monitoring this legislation. Feel free to contact attorney David Riepenhoff at driepenhoff@fishelhass.com or (614) 221-1216 with any questions about this proposed bill or any other workers’ compensation matter.