What is employee compensation?
Workers’ compensation is introduced to provide health insurance benefits and compensation for lost wages in the event of injuries related to occupational and occupational diseases. Compensation for physical and psychological injuries is regulated by law.
Mental injuries such as PTSD and stress may be covered by employee compensation depending on the circumstances in which the illness developed and your state’s laws regarding compensation for mental harm. You can receive benefits for PTSD as an injury, occupational disease, or as a result of bodily harm.
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Mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety have historically been neglected in work-related injury laws due to social stigma. In recent years there has been an increase in awareness of mental illnesses such as PTSD, leading to an expansion of laws regulating workplace injuries. It is also common to associate PTSD with soldiers who survived combat. However, it is becoming more apparent that many people develop this condition after many other types of trauma, including trauma at work.
What is PTSD?
PTSD, or post-traumatic stress disorder, is a mental illness that occurs after a person has experienced or experienced a traumatic event that has caused mental distress, feelings of anxiety, and helplessness. A person may experience PTSD symptoms immediately, or there may be a gap between the event and the manifestation of signs of the disease that can last several months or even years.
Diagnosing PTSD
There are many different signs that the person is suffering from PTSD as they are a group of different symptoms.
The first criterion for diagnosis is a traumatic event. This means that the person has been exposed to a situation where their life was in danger or at risk of serious injury or sexual violence. A person can be directly affected, experience the event themselves or witness such an event. Learning about a close family member, partner, or friend who is experiencing trauma is also considered trauma exposure. Other symptoms can include:
- Reliving the event – The person experiences recurring, intrusive, and involuntary memories, dreams, or flashbacks of the event.
- Avoidant Behavior – The person avoids stimuli that remind them of the traumatic situation. These can be places, people, objects, thoughts or emotions that are related to trauma.
- Emotional stress and personality changes – this may include dissociative amnesia (a state in which a person cannot remember the event or parts of it), self-blame, persistent feelings of guilt, shame, fear, anger, etc., negative thoughts about themselves , decreased interest and motivation to do the things they have enjoyed in the past, and difficulty with social interactions.
- High irritability – persistent and recurring emotional arousal that may include angry outbursts for no apparent reason, impulse control problems that can lead to careless behavior, or an inability to concentrate or sleep.
- Reduced Functionality – Symptoms cause significant difficulty in performing daily activities, and social and professional functions are impaired.
To be diagnosed, a person must have symptoms of PTSD for at least a month.
Also read: The positive effects of cannabis on post-traumatic stress disorder are short-lived
Employee compensation for PTSD
There are several scenarios in which an employee suffering from work-related mental health problems can apply for employee compensation:
1. PTSD as a result of bodily harm
This is a so-called “physical-mental” scenario in which benefits are granted to an employee who has developed PTSD after being physically injured in an accident at work. This type of claim is usually easier to establish than claims in other situations.
2. PTSD as a result of sudden shock or horror
This is a scenario where an employee is seeking compensation for developing PTSD following a shock or shock that was unexpected in relation to the performance of their job duties. In this situation, a person has not suffered any physical injury, so this is known as the “mental-mental” scenario.
There are some Workers’ Compensation Commission guidelines on what is and is not considered a “sudden shock or shock”. They emphasize that triggering events leading to psychological injury must be described as traumatic, unexpected, frightening, shocking and catastrophic. They also investigate whether the traumatic event is anything unusual when it comes to the employee’s work commitments and whether it was so scary and dramatic as to lead to strong feelings of shock and fear.
3. PTSD caused by multiple work-related traumatic experiences that have developed over time
There is no need to prove that sudden shock caused your mental injury when seeking compensation for PTSD that has developed over time. In this case, the employee must demonstrate that the cause of PTSD is prolonged exposure to multiple traumatic experiences related to work.
PTSD as an occupational disease
You can apply for compensation if PTSD is considered a possible occupational disease for your job. In this case, you will need to provide relevant evidence to the Workers Compensation Commission. This contains:
- Provide evidence that there is a direct causal link between employment conditions and PTSD
- Evidence of exposure to the traumatic event and the fact that PTSD was a natural incident of employment
- Evidence that employment is the leading cause of PTSD and that other non-work-related events are not the leading cause of PTSD
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Workers’ compensation in various countries
When it comes to filing a claim for employee compensation based on mental injury claims like PTSD, states have three options to treat them:
1. In many states, such claims are only covered by employee compensation if the cause can be viewed as an exceptional event. For example, a stress-related injury claim in Nevada is only covered if the cause is “extreme stress in a time of danger.” However, the state will cover a wider range of such conditions for first responders when they witness death or shock injuries in violent events. Often times, the traumatic event must cause some sort of extraordinary, unusual stress that was unexpected for claims to exist.
2. Several states provide compensation in cases where an employee has suffered a mental or physical injury at work
3. A small number of states provide compensation for work-related mental injury, even when the stress is gradual and not uncommon for a particular occupation. However, in some cases, it can be difficult to prove that PTSD is work-related. For example, in California, an employee must demonstrate that the terms of employment account for at least 51% responsibility for PTSD and must have worked for that employer for at least six months.
Employee compensation benefits for PTSD
According to Peter V. Bellotti, a Boston industrial accident attorney who specializes in work-related injuries, if a claim is approved, workers’ compensation should allow workers to reimburse medical expenses. They can also claim disability benefits if they are unable to work due to recovery, or permanent disability if doctors decide PTSD is permanently affecting their ability to work. The average billing for a work-related mental injury such as PTSD can vary from $ 50,000 to $ 90,000.
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Special rules for Workers Comp for police officers and firefighters
First responders, police officers, and firefighters are at increased risk of PTSD. Empirical data shows that 33% of first responders, 20% of police officers, and 20% of firefighters suffer from PTSD at some point in their lives. Given that people in these professions are frequently exposed to violent and traumatic events, it is no wonder that they are many times higher than the average for the general population.
New laws
The Virginia General Assembly recognized this issue and recently passed law that allows law enforcement officers and firefighters to receive employee compensation for PTSD.
These are the conditions for receiving employee compensation for firefighters and police officers:
- The employee must be evaluated by a psychologist who diagnoses PTSD related to a qualifying event. Such events affect every situation: this leads to serious personal injury or the death of another person. includes injury, death, abuse or exploitation of minors; poses a direct threat to the life of another or another, or involves mass sacrifices.
- They need to demonstrate that PTSD is a result of performing their job duties.
- The qualifying event must be the main factor that caused PTSD.
- You must demonstrate that PTSD is not the result of employment termination, disciplinary action, demotion, transfer, retirement, or job performance evaluation.
Also read: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Latest Facts: Types, Causes, Symptoms, and Treatments
Consider hiring an attorney
If you have suffered work-related mental injuries like PTSD, you can turn to an attorney right away. An experienced attorney will explain the workers’ compensation laws in your state and how the system treats PTSD. They will help you file the claim, represent you, and work through the insurance company’s arguments against the claim. An essential part of their job is to work with your therapists, psychologists, and health professionals to obtain the documentation needed to prove your claims. They can be an integral part of your struggle for employee compensation.
References
https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/can-i-get-workers-comp-post-traumatic-stress-disorder.html
https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/ptsd/what-is-ptsd
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