Under Wisconsin worker’s compensation law, people who experience work-related mental injuries may be entitled to worker’s compensation benefits. There are many caveats and roadblocks to such claims, but Kingree Law Firm has extensive experience handling work-related mental injuries.
Wisconsin worker’s compensation attorney Luke Kingree has earned a reputation as a skilled and dedicated advocate for injured workers. In addition to representing workers who have experienced permanent disability, permanent wage loss, or significant lost time from work due to workplace injuries, Attorney Kingree also advises the Wisconsin Worker’s Compensation Advisory Council (WCAC), the entity that writes legislative changes to Wisconsin’s worker’s compensation law.
If you have suffered a serious work injury that resulted in permanent disability, permanent wage loss, or significant amounts of lost time from work and your worker’s compensation benefits have been denied, or if you have not received all the benefits you may be entitled to, Kingree Law Firm can help. Contact us today to schedule an appointment to discuss your situation.
Wisconsin’s Worker’s Compensation Act recognizes three types of work-related mental injuries:
To prove the worker is entitled to benefits, he or she must establish that:
Proving a mental injury can be more challenging than proving a physical injury. To obtain compensation, in most circumstances the injured worker must show that the job stress was unexpected for the industry in which he or she works. In addition, it is sometimes a challenge to obtain necessary evidence forms and opinions from mental health professionals. Mental health professionals often hold the view that no psychological condition is necessarily permanent in nature or extent. However, the concept of permanency is crucial to most legal matters involving psychological conditions. An M.D. psychiatrist or Ph.D. psychologist must complete evidence forms and provide formal opinions regarding permanency or extent of disability in any worker’s compensation case involving psychological injury. Therapists with Masters Degrees cannot complete the evidence forms or provide opinions on causation or permanency.
Claims for mental-mental injuries (see above definition) - also known as non-traumatic mental injuries because there was no physical trauma inflicted on the person suffering the mental injury - are evaluated under the extraordinary stress standard, which assesses whether the incident that caused the injury involved “extraordinary stress.” Wisconsin first recognized non-traumatic mental injuries in the 1974 Wisconsin Supreme Court case of School Dist. No. 1 v. DILHR. In that case, the Wisconsin Supreme Court concluded that for a non-traumatic mental injury to be compensable, the event(s) that caused the injury “must have resulted from a situation of greater dimensions than the day-to-day emotional strain and tension which all employees must experience.” This definition largely excludes situations involving personality conflicts with bosses or coworkers, stressful job environment or tasks, etc. An example of a compensable non-traumatic mental injury is a foundry worker who sees a vat of molten steel break open and fatally burn coworkers.
Since 2021, police officers and full-time firefighters are no longer subject to the extraordinary stress standard for non-traumatic mental injuries that result in a diagnosis of PTSD. These workers do not need to prove a physical injury and only need to establish that they experienced PTSD from witnessing or participating in a traumatizing event, where the mental injury was reported on or after October 1, 2021 (See, Wis. Stat. 102.17(9)). The statute only applies to claims for PTSD, and the condition must be diagnosed by a licensed psychiatrist or psychologist, must be proven by the preponderance of the evidence, and cannot be the result of a job transfer or disciplinary action. Benefits are limited to 32 calendar weeks of benefits and to three episodes in the lifetime of the employee.
Volunteer firefighters and EMS workers are still subject to the extraordinary stress standard. Attorney Kingree is working closely with the WCAC to change the law to include all firefighters and EMTs. He played a key role in drafting proposed legislation that, unfortunately, was not enacted into law this legislative session despite the Council’s efforts.
A mental injury resulting from physical trauma is not subject to the “extraordinary stress” standard outlined above. An example is a worker whose arm is pulled into a machine, sustains a severe crush or degloving injury, and thereafter develops PTSD. Permanent partial disability attributable to the PTSD, and work restrictions from the PTSD resulting in a wage loss, are compensable if an M.D. doctor or Ph.D. psychologist will complete evidence forms and provide formal opinions regarding the PTSD.
If you sustained a mental injury at work that resulted in permanent disability, permanent wage loss, or significant amounts of lost time from work and your claim for worker’s compensation benefits was denied, Kingree Law Firm may be able to help. Luke Kingree has earned a reputation as a powerful advocate for injured workers who regularly achieves exceptional results for his clients. He has also been recognized as a Wisconsin SuperLawyer. Contact Kingree Law Firm today to schedule an appointment to discuss your situation.
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