by Ryan LaFlamme | Jun 7, 2013 | Workers’ Compensation
Armstrong v. John R. Jurgensen Co., Slip Opinion No. 2013-Ohio-2237.
In a decision released June 4, 2013, the Ohio Supreme Court has affirmed that in order for a mental condition to be compensable under the Ohio workers’ compensation system, a compensable physical injury sustained by the claimant must cause the mental condition.
The facts of the case are that an employee was involved in a motor-vehicle accident while operating a one-ton dump truck in the performance of his job duties. The employee’s truck was struck from behind by another vehicle resulting in the death of the driver. After being transported to the emergency room, the employee was treated for physical injuries and released. He was distressed to learn, while in the emergency room, that the other driver had died.
The employee filed a workers’ compensation claim for his physical injuries, and his claim was allowed for cervical strain, thoracic strain, and lumbar strain. He subsequently requested an additional allowance for post traumatic stress disorder (“PTSD”). A hearing officer allowed the employees additional claim, finding his PTSD compensable because it was causally related to his industrial injury and his previously recognized conditions. The employer ultimately appealed to court. The parties did not dispute that the employee actually had the condition of PTSD, the dispute was over what caused it. Injured workers have the burden of proof to show that there injuries are causally related to the performance of their work duties.
The expert for the employer opined that the employee’s PTSD was caused by “the mental observation of the severity of the injury, the fatality, [and] the fact that it could have been life threatening to him at some point.” The expert further opined that the employee would have suffered PTSD regardless of his physical injuries. The trial court as well as the appeals court sided with the employer and the employee appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court.
R.C. 4123.01(C) defines “injury” for purposes of workers’ compensation. Psychiatric conditions are excluded from the general definition of “injury,” “except where the claimant’s psychiatric conditions have arisen from an injury or occupational disease sustained by that claimant.”
The Court recognized that no Ohio appellate court has ever recognized a workers’ compensation claim for mental injury or mental disease caused solely by job-related stress which is unaccompanied by physical injury or occupational disease. Accordingly the Court was not willing to broaden what it called unambiguous language in the statute.
Hence, for a mental injury to be compensable, it must arise from a compensable physical injury. Mental conditions, standing alone are not sufficient, nor are mental conditions which are contemporaneously incurred with a physical injury, but which are not caused by the physical injury.
by Ryan LaFlamme | Jan 10, 2013 | General
Governor John Kasich signed HB 543, also known as the “Jason Flatt Act,” into law on December 20, 2012. The bill, originally sponsored by the mother of a suicide victim, requires school districts to provide in service training in youth suicide awareness and prevention to all teachers, nurses, counselors, school psychologists and administrators. Districts may also provide training to any other personnel deemed appropriate.
Each district is required to either adopt or adapt the curriculum developed by the Department of Education or develop its own curriculum in consultation with public or private agencies or persons involved in youth suicide awareness and prevention programs. The training will count toward professional development required by districts and may be accomplished through self-review of suitable prevention materials approved by the board.
The bill is named for a Tennessee student who committed suicide in 1997. His father has championed the Jason Foundation, Inc. since his son’s death and numerous other states have adopted similar versions of HB 543 as a result of the foundation’s lobbying efforts. The law goes into effect on March 22, 2013.
The full text of the law can be viewd at: http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=129_HB_543
by Ryan LaFlamme | Jan 4, 2013 | General
We have recently reported on House Bill 555 which was signed into law by Governor Kasich on December 20, 2012. Certain provisions of the Bill modify the method in which the value-added progress dimension or student academic growth measure must be used to evaluate teachers.
Under continuing law, the State Board must adopt a framework for teacher evaluations which provide for multiple evaluation factors. One such factor addressed by the Bill is student academic growth. Student academic growth should for fifty percent of each evaluation. The Bill provides that when applicable to the grade level or subject area taught by a teacher, the value-added progress dimension or an alternative student academic progress measure, if adopted, shall be used in the student academic growth portion of an evaluation in proportion to the part of a teacher’s schedule of courses or subjects for which the value-added progress dimension is applicable.
The Bill further provides that if a teacher’s schedule is comprised only of courses or subjects for which the value-added progress dimension is applicable, one of the following applies:
- Beginning with the effective date of this Bill (90 days from passage) until June 30, 2014, the majority of the student academic growth factor of the evaluation shall be based on the value-added progress dimension.
- On or after July 1, 2014, the entire student academic growth factor of the evaluation shall be based on the value-added progress dimension. (In calculating student academic growth for an evaluation, a student shall not be included if the student has sixty or more unexcused absences for the school year).
The Bill also exempts substitutes and adult education instructors from the requirements of the evaluation law. We will keep you posted with any further developments. The text of the bill can be viewed at:
http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=129_HB_555
