If you are working, and you injure yourself while on the job, then you can usually collect workers’ comp. You may need it, since otherwise, you might have no money coming in until you can recover enough to go back to work. However, you might also feel traumatized by something that happens while you’re on the job.
If so, you might get a PSTD diagnosis. You might pursue workers’ comp if you have PTSD. It’s actually not that unusual these days.
However, it’s not always easy getting workers’ comp if you receive a PTSD diagnosis. You may have to jump through hoops to try to get the money you feel you’re due.
In this article, we’ll talk about having PTSD and pursuing workers’ comp. It’s something that might happen to you one day, so you should know the basics that go along with the concept.
What Does PTSD Mean?
PTSD means post-traumatic stress disorder. It’s a fairly common condition, though by no means an enjoyable one.
A soldier who sees combat might get a PTSD diagnosis when they come back from active duty. If you survive a violent crime like a robbery or a sexual assault, you might receive this diagnosis.
You may receive this diagnosis if you survive a natural disaster like a typhoon or an earthquake. You may also have PTSD after a particularly violent car wreck.
However, you can also potentially endure an incident while on the job where you have PTSD as a result. For example, maybe you’re driving a company truck when another vehicle plows into you. You might have PTSD after that.
Maybe you’re delivering a package while working for a company like Amazon or UPS when a dog bites you. That might do it.
If you’re working in a bank, and someone robs it, that may give you PTSD. If you think about it, you can probably think of several more reasons why you might have PTSD after a work-related incident.
What’s Workers’ Comp?
As for workers’ comp, that’s shorthand for workers’ compensation. It’s a kind of insurance policy that most employers need to have.
You can sometimes get away with not having it. For instance, if you only employ yourself, and you have no other workers, then you don’t need to get it. For the most part, though, the law mandates that you have an adequate amount of workers’ compensation insurance that covers all of your workers.
It’s a worker protection that should kick in if an employee hurts themselves while at work. Sometimes you might run into an exception where you can’t collect workers’ comp if you inure yourself while on the job, but usually, your boss can file a claim on your behalf. You should start to receive the money you need while you’re recovering relatively quickly.
Can You Normally Collect Workers’ Comp from PTSD?
If you injure yourself while on the job, you should immediately tell your boss about it. That’s the first step toward potentially collecting workers’ comp through your company’s insurance policy. However, if you have PTSD after something that happened at work, proving that might become more challenging than if you have a broken leg or a skull fracture.
That’s because, in a situation where there’s an injury that you can easily prove, there’s usually no valid reason why your boss should not be able to file a workers’ comp policy on your behalf. With PTSD, though, it’s not usually visible. Medical professionals consider it a mental or a psychological condition.
In short, yes, you can potentially collect workers’ comp if you have PTSD, but you might not do so quite as easily as you would if you had some other kinds of injuries.
You Will Need to Prove That You Have It
You will need to prove that you have PTSD if you hope to collect any money through workers’ comp in the days and weeks after the work-related incident that traumatized you. How can you do that, though?
You will need to get a PTSD diagnosis through a qualified mental health professional, like a therapist. Usually, if a licensed therapist confirms that you have PTSD, and they will put that on paper so that your boss can give it to the insurance company, then you can probably start collecting on that policy.
However, the insurance company may also demand additional proof. Maybe they will require that you get a second opinion.
Just like every mental health problem, you having to prove it might slow down the process. You will need to find a way to get past these obstacles, though.
If you have plenty of money, then you can use your savings in the time till you get back to work. If you have very little in savings, though, or nothing at all, that’s when it becomes crucial that you get approval of your workers’ comp claim immediately. You might not be able to afford your rent and other bills without that.
Some Additional Considerations
Even if you do get workers’ comp after a work-related incident that caused PTSD, the insurance company might keep pestering you about when you’ll get back to the job. If you work in a position where you’re on your feet all day, and you have a broken leg, then you obviously can’t resume your former duties until it completely heals.
If you have PTSD, though, you don’t just have to prove it to the insurance company. You also have to continue proving it again and again until you can get back to work.
Your therapist or another qualified mental health professional can hopefully help with this. If you’re going through counseling to get past the incident that traumatized you, but you’re not ready to get back to work yet, maybe the therapist can continue convincing the insurance company of that. Insurance companies do not want to keep paying you a moment longer than they have to, so keep that in mind.
