Workers’ Compensation Should Cover Mental Injury, Too
Every worker has the right to a safe workplace. That is a promise made more than 50 years ago on April 28, 1971, when the Occupational Safety and Health Act went into effect.
OSHA did not just happen; the law was won because of the tireless efforts of the union movement, which fought for safer working conditions and demanded action from our government to protect working people.
The union movement observes April 28 each year as Workers Memorial Day to remember those killed or injured on the job and to renew our call for strong health and safety protections.
One way to protect workers is by ensuring they have access to proper care if they suffer an injury or incur illness because of their work. Unfortunately, in New York, there are barriers to receiving some forms of care. In particular, due to an outdated approach to mental health that stigmatizes workers, some are not getting the treatment they need.
Too often, workers’ compensation carriers and self-insured employers can deny claims from workers suffering from PTSD and extreme stress related to their jobs. The defense for denying these otherwise-valid claims is that the injured workers should have expected to encounter the level of stress that caused their injury.
But think about what workers endured during the COVID-19 pandemic. Workers in health care, transportation, grocery and many other industries were sickened, and many died simply for doing their jobs under extreme conditions. Many suffered from PTSD after experiencing stress at work.
The vast majority of these workers are not so sick that they cannot work; they simply need the workers’ compensation system to provide care.
A bill before the Legislature this session (S.6635/A.5745) would prohibit workers’ compensation carriers and self-insured employers from denying these valid claims.
Workers injured or sickened on the job deserve the full protections of the workers’ compensation law and all the care and benefits it affords, regardless of whether their injury or illness is physical or mental. Eliminating this regressive defense represents another step toward eliminating the stigma and disparate treatment of mental illness. It also represents a step toward ensuring that injured and ill workers get prompt, high-quality care, and adequate wage replacement, to recover from injuries and return to work.
Further, it will help ensure that health care workers and other frontline workers receive the care they need for trauma suffered as they cared for the sick and served the public while witnessing the devastation wrought by a global pandemic. Their trauma was exacerbated by excessive use of mandatory overtime, short staffing, and extreme fatigue.
Recently, the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board made abundantly clear the need for this legislation: At a meeting earlier this month, the board voted to appeal four court decisions that prohibited the board from denying mental health claims made by essential workers who were mandated to work in person during the pandemic. That’s a slap in the face to all workers, especially essential workers who put their lives on the line during the pandemic.
As we pay tribute to those who never made it home from work, let us do all we can to ensure all workers have access to the care they deserve —whether their suffering is physical or mental.