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BECAUSE CLAIMANT SUFFERED PHYSICAL TRAUMA, TO RECOVER FOR PSYCHOLOGICAL INJURIES SHE NEED ONLY DEMONSTRATE A CONNECTION BTWEEN THE PSYCHOLOGICAL INJURIES AND THE PHYSICAL TRAUMA; CLAIMANT WAS NOT REQUIRED TO PROVE A SEPARATE AND DISTINCT WORKPLACE INJURY CAUSED THE PSYCHOLOGICAL INJURIES (THIRD DEPT).

The Third Department, reversing the Workers’ Compensation Board, determined the claimant need only demonstrate a connection between the physical trauma she suffered when a dog jumped on her and the psychological injuries which followed. Claimant did not have to prove the psychological injuries were caused by a separate workplace accident. Claimant, a social worker, was making a home visit when a family dog charged at her:

… [I]t has long been recognized that where a workplace accident is found to have occurred as a result of a physical impact/trauma, resulting physical and psychological injuries are both compensable, so long as the claimant establishes the causal connection between the accident and the alleged injuries … .

Here, the Board established a claim for a physical injury to claimant’s chest based upon the dog jumping on her chest and knocking her into the side of the house. As claimant alleges that her psychological injuries resulted from that same physical impact that the Board found amounted to a workplace accident, the Board erred in requiring that she establish a separate workplace accident comprised of work-related stress to recover for her alleged direct psychological injuries … . Rather, upon finding that a workplace accident had been established, the Board’s inquiry was limited to whether claimant showed, through competent medical evidence, that there was a causal relation between the accident and the injury … . Accordingly, the Board’s decision is reversed, and the matter is remitted to the Board to examine whether a causal connection was established between the workplace accident and the alleged psychological injuries consisting of PTSD, anxiety and acute stress disorder. Matter of Lewis v NYC Admin. for Children Servs., 2024 NY Slip Op 05254, Third Dept 10-24-24

Practice Point: The Workers’ Compensation Law allows recovery for psychological injuries caused by physical trauma.

 

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