Why Contest Mental Health Claims In Workers’ Comp When You Can Prevent Them To Begin With?

Mental illness touches the lives of many in our society, whether personally or through a friend, family member or colleague. Data from the Center for Disease Control shows that one in five Americans will experience a mental illness during a given year.

While mental illness has been a serious health issue for many years, the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically increased its frequency and cast a spotlight on the disease’s devastating effects.

To address mental illness in the workforce, an increasing wave of legislation aimed at expanding eligibility for workers’ compensation benefits has been enacted. However, there has been pushback that not all mental health issues should be covered by workers’ comp laws, and how this plays out in the courts remains to be seen.

In most states, mental injuries that arise out of and during the course of employment, are compensable.

However, it is usually the injured worker’s burden to prove that they have suffered an injury in the course and scope of employment and arising out of the employment.