A New York appeals court Thursday reversed an administrative decision that had disallowed a psychological injury claim filed by a New York City Transit Authority train conductor who said he developed anxiety due to COVID-19 exposure in the workplace.
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York said the Workers’ Compensation Board erred in denying the conductor’s mental injury claim and finding that the injury was noncompensable.
The worker had claimed he developed anxiety and experienced an exacerbation of preexisting psychiatric conditions because of his high-risk exposure to COVID-19 and “unsafe work environment in which he was not provided adequate personal protective equipment,” the ruling states.
The transit authority challenged the claim, and a workers comp judge agreed with its contention that the stress the employee was under was the same as other workers faced during the pandemic.
The Workers’ Compensation Board affirmed the judge’s decision.
The appellate court said the board “improperly applies a disparate burden to claimants seeking benefits for contracting the virus as compared to those, like him, seeking benefits for psychological injuries stemming from exposure to COVID-19 in the workplace.”
The court remanded the matter to the board to reassess whether a causal connection existed between the psychological injury and the workplace.