Friday, February 5, 2010

Nebraska law would expand workman's comp to cover emergency first responders' mental injuries

From Risk&Insurance.com:


Legislation introduced in Nebraska would expand workers' compensation benefits to cover emergency first responders who suffer mental injuries as a result of their jobs.

Sen. Steve Lathrop, D-Omaha, said Legislative Bill 780 would cover firefighters, law enforcement officers, crime scene investigators, and out-of-hospital emergency care providers. Under the legislation, first responders would receive workers' comp benefits for mental injuries and mental illness unaccompanied by physical injury if it is established that the employee's employment conditions causing the injuries or illness were extraordinary and unusual in comparison to the normal conditions of the particular employment.

The bill, however, states that mental injuries and illnesses cannot be compensable if they result from any event or series of events which are incidental to normal employer and employee relations, such as disciplinary actions, work evaluations, transfers, promotions, demotions, salary reviews, or terminations.