Monthly Archives: April 2021

PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICERS CAN NOW BRING A CLAIM FOR PTSD WITHOUT HAVING TO PROVE EXTRAORDINARY STRESS

By: Matthew Kurudza

Assembly Bill 11 was passed in the Senate on February 16, 2021 and presented to Governor Evers on April 22, 2021.  This bill, now known as 2021 Wisconsin Act 29 (Act), was signed by Governor Evers on April 27, 2021.  This bipartisan bill was passed to allow public safety officers – including law enforcement and firefighters – who have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) under certain conditions to receive worker’s compensation benefits without having to prove that the injury was caused by extraordinary stress.

Since the mid-1970’s, Wisconsin has recognized non-traumatic mental injuries in worker’s compensation.  Specifically, in the School District No. 1 v. DILHR  decision, the Wisconsin Supreme Court established the “extraordinary stress” standard for compensability.  This decision provided that a “mental injury non-traumatically caused must have resulted from a situation of greater dimensions than the day-to-day emotional strain and tension which all employees must experience.”  This standard was clarified in the Spink v. Farm Credit Services decision, where the court found “the amount of stress in the applicant’s occupation and field … served as the benchmark for comparison with the stress that the applicant claims entitles him or her to worker’s compensation.”  Later, the Jenson v. Employer’s Mutual Court further clarified the test stating the stress was “measured not by its effects on the victim, but by the unusual nature of the occupational stress itself.”  These onerous standards often prevented employees in high-stress jobs – such as public safety officers, from prevailing on a claim for PTSD.

The Act itself makes a few important changes, most notably by relaxing the existing “extraordinary stress” standard discussed above, along with setting caps on liability.  These changes are discussed in detail below:

First, the Act allows payment of worker’s compensation benefits if a public safety officer, such as law enforcement or firefighter, is diagnosed with PTSD by a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist, and the mental injury is not accompanied by a physical injury if proven by a preponderance of the evidence and the mental injury is not a result of a result of a good faith employment action by the employer. Wis. Stat §102.17(9)(b).

Second, the Act limits the liability for treatment of such injuries and claims to no more than 32 weeks after the injury is first reported. Wis. Stat §102.42(1p).

Third, it restricts the ability to claim compensation for such injuries and diagnoses to three times within an individual’s lifetime, regardless of a change in employment status. Wis. Stat §102.17(9)(c).

In short, this legislation eases the process of claiming a mental injury and obtaining covered treatment, and expenses for public safety officers by altering the previous standards for compensable non-traumatic mental injuries.

For more information about these changes, please contact your Lindner & Marsack, S.C. attorney at (414) 273-3910.

Current Trends & Treatment in Worker’s Compensation

Lindner & Marsack’s worker’s compensation defense practice is well recognized as an industry leader in providing work injury defense services to many of Wisconsin’s largest employers and insurance carriers.

Chelsie Springstead, a Shareholder and member of the Firm’s highly regarded work injury defense team, is a presenter in the first episode of an educational video podcast series entitled “A Medical and Legal Analysis of COVID-19: Addressing Issues Surrounding Causation, Care and Courses of Action” on Thursday, April 29, 2021, at 12:00 p.m. CST.

If you are interested in attending this event, please send an email to info@crawfordevaluationgroup.com. This is a complimentary event!

Click here for more information. You will receive a link to view the broadcast closer to the date.

WISCONSIN SUPREME COURT STRIKES DOWN STATEWIDE MASK MANDATE

By: Samantha J. Wood and Sally A. Piefer

On Wednesday, the Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down Wisconsin’s statewide mask mandate, holding that Governor Evers exceeded his legal authority by issuing multiple emergency orders under Wis. Stat. § 323.10.   The court emphasized that the question was “not whether the Governor acted wisely; it [was] whether he acted lawfully.”  Section 323.10 specifies that no state of emergency may last longer than 60 days unless “the state of emergency is extended by joint resolution of the legislature.”  Absent legislative approval, the Governor is precluded from proclaiming repeated states of emergency.  Because Governor Evers extended the orders declaring a state of emergency on several occasions without legislative approval, his extensions were and are invalid.

Although Wisconsin’s statewide mask mandate has been struck down by virtue of the Supreme Court’s decision, employers must keep several other laws in mind in determining their next steps:

  1. Several municipalities have issued their own mask mandates, including Dane County, Milwaukee County, the City of Milwaukee, Wauwatosa and various other townships and villages. These mandates are enforceable if enacted by the municipality’s governing body. Employers should check with their local municipality and county before eliminating a mask requirement.
  1. Employers still maintain responsibilities under OSHA’s “General Duty” clause. OSHA’s General Duty clause requires an employer to furnish to its employees employment and a place of employment free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm.  Employers can be cited for a violation of the General Duty clause if a recognized hazard exists in the workplace and the employer does not take reasonable steps to prevent or abate the hazard. OSHA prepared guidance in March 2021 that encourages employers to require face coverings. That guidance can be found here.
  1. Employees may be eligible to receive worker’s compensation benefits as a result of contracting COVID-19 in the workplace if the employee can establish that the employee contracted the virus while performing services growing out of and incidental to that employment.

In determining whether to lift an employment mask requirement or policy, employers should consider the above-referenced legal considerations, as well as analyze the risks in their workplace, other sanitization or safety procedures in place, and whether, if a mask requirement will remain in place, the employer will consistently enforce a mask policy and issue corrective action to employees who violate the policy.