Psychiatric Injuries

EXPERIENCED LEGAL ADVOCATES IN INDUSTRIAL PSYCHIATRIC INJURY CLAIMS

If you suffer from psychological stress at work, you are eligible to receive workers’ compensation benefits.

Everyone mistakenly believes that only physical injuries are covered by workers’ compensation insurance policies. We at Cruz Injury Law Firm have extensive experience in filing psychological injury claims on behalf of workers.

PSYCHOLOGICAL/PSYCHIATRIC INJURIES

There are many factors to consider when filing a claim for workers’ compensation benefits as a result of suffering from a psychological/psychiatric injury. First, there are many types of professions that are naturally stressful. The stress associated with these jobs can accumulate over a long period of time and effect the employee both mentally and physically.

In addition, there are many events that can occur at work that may cause a psychological/psychiatric injury. These include:

Employer does not provide a safe working environment
Hostility between co-workers is left unresolved by employer
Injured worker is a victim of a violent or traumatic event

When dealing with a psychological/psychiatric injury, the injured worker would most likely suffer anxiety attacks, depression, sleep deprivation and other physical manifestations of a stress-induced injury.

QUALIFICATIONS FOR A PSYCHOLOGICAL/PSYCHIATRIC INJURY BE DEEMED COMPENSABLE

In order to qualify for workers compensation benefits based on a psychological/psychiatric injury, the employee must meet three requirements:

First, the employee must be employed for at least six (6) months
A doctor must find that the psychiatric injury is predominantly caused by the employee’s duties and/or event, which means it must meet the 51% threshold
A psychologist/psychiatrist must indicate that medical treatment is necessary

However, an employer may have a defense to a psychological/psychiatric injury claim. First, an employee cannot claim a stress injury due to a physical injury. Another defense is called the good faith personnel action by the employer. If the employer criticized the work of the employee which causes a demotion or the employer changes the duties of the employee, then the employee cannot claim a psychological/psychiatric injury.