COUNTY JAIL CORRECTIONS OFFICER ENTITLED TO WORKERS’ COMPENSATION BENEFITS FOR PTSD AND DEPRESSION RESULTING FROM AN INMATE’S SPITTING ON HIM AND THREATENING TO KILL HIS FAMILY (THIRD DEPT).

The Third Department determined claimant’s appeal was rendered moot because the Workers’ Compensation Board rescinded its prior rulings and found claimant, a county jail corrections officer, could recover for PTSD and depression resulting from an inmate’s spitting on him (saliva exposure) and threatening to kill claimant’s family:

… [T]he Board panel …found … that claimant did not sustain a physical injury within the meaning of Workers’ Compensation Law § 2 (7) and, further, that the recent amendment to Workers’ Compensation Law § 10 (3) (b) did not apply to claimant; hence, claimant was “required to demonstrate that the stress encountered was greater than that which occurred in the normal work environment of a correction[] officer” … . On that latter point, the Board panel credited claimant’s testimony that the inmate in question “was more dangerous than the average inmate” and that “exposure to bodily fluids . . . was not a regular occurrence for [claimant] at work” … . Accordingly, the Board panel found that claimant experienced stress greater than similarly situated correction officers, that “establishment of the claim for . . . psychological conditions [was] supported by the credible evidence in the record” and that “the claim [was] properly amended to include PTSD, major depressive disorder[] and panic disorder’ … . Matter of Carey v Westchester County Dept. of Corr., 2019 NY Slip Op 03116, Third Dept 4-25-19