Caring, Personal Help After
A Serious Personal Injury

Am I able to get workers’ compensation for stress?

| Jul 6, 2018 | Workers' Compensation

There is no doubt that work can get very stressful for many Georgia workers. In some cases, they work in jobs that are just naturally stressful, like medicine or law enforcement. In other cases, a worker might find himself or herself in a bad work environment or dealing with a really tough supervisor.

In some limited situations, workers’ compensation benefits may be available to employees for stress, depression or other mental illnesses that are connected to their employment. As a word of caution, though, this benefit will not be available to people who are experiencing stress from what the courts would consider just ordinary circumstances at work.

On the other hand, problems with mental health can get covered under workers’ compensation benefits if the problems develop in connection with some other injury or illness at work. For example, if a worker gets hurt in a car accident while they are on the clock and, because of the long recovery, winds up developing depression or another mental health problem, then benefits may be available for that mental health condition.

Georgia’s laws allow for injured workers to get compensation for mental conditions like stress in limited circumstances. However, doing so may be a complicated process. In these sorts of situations, getting the help of an experienced workers’ compensation attorney may be advisable.

This is true especially when one’s work-related mental condition actually prolong an employee’s time off work or results in additional medical bills. After all, the point of workers’ compensation is to cover a worker’s medical bills and some of his or her wages so he or she can be financially while stable while recovering from a work-related injury.