Mental Health and Workers' Compensation.

AuthorCunningham, Josh

"Mental health injuries are difficult to see when looking at someone, unlike a broken leg or injuries from a fall," Debbie Plotnick of Mental Health America says. Still, a mental illness can leave a person unable to work at full potential.

Most state workers' compensation laws allow coverage for certain mental health conditions, but often workers must conclusively show that their condition resulted directly from abnormal working conditions. In practice, this can be very difficult to do.

Psychological conditions, such as work-induced stress, are rarely covered in workers' compensation statutes. In fact, some states prohibit mental health claims, unless the condition resulted from a related physical workplace injury, such as when a worker who sustains a head injury is diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury.

"More likely and harder to document is stress over time that results in depression and anxiety due to working conditions, such as bullying or sexual harassment or a toxic work environment," Plotnick says.

She encourages employers to make mental health accommodations in the workplace.

"Just as an employer would make allowances for an employee going to doctors' appointments or to engage in rehabilitation, so too should therapy and other supports be afforded to employees with a mental health need," she says. "Other accommodations may include flexible working times or working from home as a permanent or temporary accommodation."

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