Workers’ compensation for PTSD is a difficult thing to change. However, Connecticut may be close to expanding coverage to include post-traumatic stress.
At least in special circumstances…and only for police officers and first responders.
It’s an important start. But one that leaves most workers without protections against emotional trauma.
Understanding Workers Compensation for PTSD Coverage Gaps
Police unions across the U.S. are pushing for officers to be able to collect workers’ compensation benefits if they suffer post-traumatic stress disorder, whether it comes from stress or from responding to a deadly shooting rampage. In 2012, Connecticut did pass a bill which providing coverage to firefighters and police officers for “mental or emotional impairment.” However, the law only provided worker’s compensation coverage for police if emotional trauma is from an officer’s use of deadly force.
Lawmakers are now considering providing compensation to police officers with PTSD from situations not involving deadly force. Sadly, the move was inspired by the most tragic event in recent Connecticut history – the mass shooting in Newtown. Policeman Thomas Bean has not been able to return to work due to depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts since responding to the shooting, which left 20 first graders and six educators dead.
Since this article was written, Connecticut has significantly expanded workers’ compensation for PTSD – making it a model for other states.
It is interesting to note that this isn’t the first time state lawmakers have considered expanding workers’ compensation coverage following a tragic, high-profile case. Remember Travis, the chimpanzee that mauled a woman in North Stamford in 2009? Stamford police officer Frank Chiafari was the first responder in the incident, and was forced to shoot and kill the crazed chimpanzee.
Despite suffering obvious mental distress after the shooting, Chiafari was denied workers comp for PTSD because it only covered the use of deadly force on humans. Connecticut lawmakers promptly updated the law to provide workers’ compensation coverage for mental or emotional impairment when a police officer is forced to use deadly force on an animal. But even then, the bill was drafted so narrowly that it wouldn’t include instances involving rabid animals such as raccoons or when an officer has to shoot a deer that’s been injured in a car crash.
UPDATE: Connecticut Leads the Way
Since these early cases, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont signed Senate Bill 913 into law in 2023, making workers’ compensation for PTSD available to all workers – not just first responders – effective January 1, 2024. Under the new law, all employees subject to the workers’ compensation law in Connecticut are eligible for benefits if diagnosed with PTSD by a mental health professional.
How Workers Compensation for PTSD Laws Keep Evolving
It is possible to win workers’ compensation for emotional trauma in most states, but only in special circumstances. Under Connecticut law, work-related emotional distress injuries are not covered unless the trauma is caused by a physical injury.
To understand how this works in practice, consider a series of rulings in Ohio, which has a similar workers’ compensation statute. There, courts have found that emotional trauma like PTSD is only covered if the emotional trauma is directly related to a physical injury.
In a 2012 case, Jones v. Catholic Healthcare Partners, worker’s compensation for PTSD was awarded to a hospital employee held hostage by an escaped prisoner. However, the woman was awarded workers’ compensation for PTSD only because a doctor testified that the traumatic stress was at least partially tied to a physical injury to her wrist.
A year later, in Armstrong v. John R. Jurgensen Co., the state Supreme Court denied PTSD compensation to a dump truck driver seriously hurt in an accident while on the job. The court found that the even though the driver was seriously hurt in the accident and suffered from PTSD, his mental anguish was tied to the shock of seeing the other driver in the accident die, and not from physical injuries.
The Real Scope of the Problem
The need for expanded workers’ compensation for PTSD coverage is backed by sobering statistics. About 8 million adults have PTSD during a given year, with PTSD estimated to occur in 32% of first responders, including 19% of police officers and almost 20% of firefighters and paramedics. In 2024 alone, 51 bills focused on PTSD workers’ compensation, with three states – Alaska, Arizona, and Oklahoma – enacting legislation creating presumptions of compensability for PTSD in first responders.
Connecticut Shows the Path Forward
While Connecticut initially denied Bean workers’ compensation for his PTSD symptoms, the state has since become a leader in workers’ compensation for PTSD reform. The new year brought with it an expansion of Connecticut’s workers’ compensation benefits with regard to post-traumatic stress injuries or disorders, proving that meaningful change is possible when lawmakers recognize PTSD as the legitimate workplace injury it truly is.
At Leighton, Katz, and Drapeau, we know that workers in any line of work can be subjected to emotionally scarring trauma. With Connecticut’s groundbreaking expansion showing the way forward, more states will hopefully follow suit in providing comprehensive workers’ compensation for PTSD coverage that protects all workers, not just those in uniform. If you’ve suffered workplace trauma that’s affecting your mental health, don’t let bureaucratic barriers keep you from getting the help you deserve. Contact our experienced team today for a free consultation to discuss your workers’ compensation for PTSD claim. We know how to navigate Connecticut’s expanded coverage laws and will fight to get you the benefits you’re entitled to.
Call us now or fill out our online form – because your mental health matters just as much as any physical injury.