Workers’ comp claim filed over work-related stress denied

An auditor in New York claimed her anxiety attacks and hypertension were caused by work-related stresses.

Psychological injuries resulting can be eligible for workers’ compensation, much like physical injuries. But the worker must demonstrate that the stress they endured was more severe than what other workers in similar circumstances typically experience, according to the New York Supreme Court’s Appellate Division Credit: Andrii Zastrozhnov/Adobe Stock

The New York Supreme Court’s Appellate Division denied an auditor’s workers’ comp claim, which was filed due to anxiety attacks brought on by communications with her supervisor. The anxiety resulted in elevated blood pressure, which increased the auditor’s stress and anxiety levels.

This case started in October 2020 with a text-based Skype conversation between the auditor and her supervisor, in which they discussed the claimant’s work. During the Skype chat, the auditor began to experience physical symptoms, including blurry vision and “excruciating” pain in her head, all of which she had not previously experienced prior to this incident “despite having active prescriptions for anxiety/depression and high blood pressure,” according to the appellate court.

Following the Skype conversation, the auditor left work for the day and was evaluated at an urgent care center. She was then taken by ambulance to an emergency room for the headache and elevated blood pressure and eventually admitted to an intensive care unit. She was discharged the next day with a diagnosis of “essential hypertension, migraine without aura and hypertension urgency,” according to the court documents.

The appeals court affirmed previous rulings, denying the claim because the worker failed to show a “casually related psychological injury,” according to court documents. The appeals court did note that psychological injuries caused by psychic trauma can be compensable to the same extent as physical injuries. However, the claimant has to show that the injury-inducing stress they endured was “greater than that which other similarly situated workers experienced in the normal work environment.”

Similarly, the appeals court affirmed early rulings that the auditor’s hypertension and other physical symptoms would not circumvent the requirement to show that she was under more pressure than her colleagues during the time of the injury.

“The claimant’s peers were subjected to the same daily and hourly quotas for completion of audits, and to the extent that claimant undertook additional mail audits, claimant’s supervisor offered help with her workload if necessary,” the court wrote in the order denying the claim.

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