Virginia Legislators Mull Bill Calling Repetitive Trauma ‘Occupational Illness’
- The Virginia Senate is reviewing legislation to classify injuries caused by repetitive trauma as occupational illnesses.
- Provisions in S.B. 1112 would include “injuries or diseases from conditions resulting from repetitive and sustained physical stressors, including repetitive and sustained motions, exertions, posture stresses, contact stresses, vibrations, or noises” among occupational illnesses.
- The bill would also amend the state’s workers compensation law to delete phrasing that defines carpal tunnel syndrome and hearing loss as “ordinary diseases of life.”
- The Senate Commerce and Labor Committee is reviewing the bill.
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Insurer Went Too Far in Depriving Psychological Benefits: ND Court
- Workforce Safety and Insurance went too far when it deprived a worker of benefits for the psychological conditions he developed after an accident left him quadriplegic, the North Dakota Supreme Court ruled on Jan. 9.
- A delivery driver for Core Mark International fell off a loading ramp while working and fractured his cervical spine, rendering him quadriplegic. The company’s insurer, Workforce Safety, approved benefits for his physical injuries but later denied mental health-related diagnoses, according to case No. 20240135.
- The state’s Supreme Court said “legislature has not specifically authorized WSI to promulgate rules regulating the proof required to establish compensability for a mental or psychological condition,” the court said, concluding that the insurer’s regulation is invalid.
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Littler Lawyers Analyze Impact of New NY Workplace Stress Law
- Lawyers in the Long Island, NY office of Littler Mendelson have weighed in with an assessment of the impact of New York’s new workplace stress law.
- The law, which went into effect on Jan. 1, allows any employee to file a workers’ compensation claim for specific types of mental health injuries based on extraordinary work-related stress.
- “While there is likely to be a significant increase in workers’ compensation claims premised on work-related stress, there likely will be a parallel decline in emotional distress damage awards in employment-related litigation cases filed outside of the Workers’ Compensation Board,” wrote the firm’s Lisa Griffith and Samantha DeRuvo in a Jan. 9 blog post.
- “Given the amendment to Section 10 to include mental health claims by any employee, once the employer’s liability for providing workers’ compensation benefits is established, the employee cannot sue that employer in court for damages sustained from the work-related mental health injury in most circumstances,” they wrote.
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