In Arizona, workers who sustain work-related mental health conditions like PTSD can file for workers’ compensation benefits. PTSD can occur after a person experiences an extremely stressful event. For instance, a delivery driver can have PTSD after being involved in a serious car accident where a lot of people got hurt. This driver may not want to drive again. The fear, anxiety, and stress they experience are symptoms of PTSD. PTSD and work-related injuries don’t occur all the time; however, when they do, they are covered under workers’ compensation law. You can learn more about this when you visit this page.
While PTSD following a workplace injury is common, winning these cases can be hard. If you have sustained emotional or psychological injuries because of a job-related injury or accident, hiring a lawyer can make sure you get the compensation you deserve.
What is PTSD?
Post-traumatic stress disorder is a psychological disorder that can be suffered by those who have experienced a dangerous, scary, and shocking event. This can be a severe injury, an accident, a traumatic experience, or the death of a family member. PTSD symptoms can include flashbacks, scary and erratic thoughts, bad dreams, uncontrolled anger, being easily frightened or startled, inability to sleep, and others.
In some cases, the symptoms can appear right away or manifest months after the event that caused the condition. However, sometimes, if the traumatic event is work-related, the affected employee may not do their job adequately when they experience these symptoms.
Benefits Available to People with Work-Related PTSD
The workers’ compensation insurance of an employer will cover the affected employee’s wage loss and medical benefits. Medical benefits include psychological treatments that employee needs like in-patient treatment and therapy. Also, if the worker cannot work because of PTSD, they are eligible for wage loss benefits.
PTSD and Workers’ Compensation Law
In Arizona, both physical and psychological injuries are recognized. Injured employees must show through solid evidence that their injury is work-related. This means that they suffered the injury while they are the workplace, during a period while they are on the clock, or if they were engaged in activities as a fulfillment of their employment duties.
If a work injury and PTSD occur at the same time, the affected worker should show that their PTSD resulted from something that happened traumatic or shocking at work. This can include an assault, a violent car crash, or an explosion at work.
