On October 17, 2008 the Georgia Court of Appeals decided the case of DeKalb Board of Education v. Singleton, 2008 Ga. App. Lexis 1116. This case involved a psychological injury under O.C.G.A. § 34-9-105(c)(5). The facts of this case are fairly straightforward. A school bus driver arrived for work and found that there was some white powder in her bus. She proceeded to clean the white powder with paper towels and hand sanitizers provided by the employer. After driving her bus for 30 to 45 minutes, she suffered an asthma attack. The employee had previously been diagnosed with asthma and this attack was an aggravation of a pre-existing condition.
The difficulty in this case concerned the employee’s claims for a psychological injury. Under Georgia workers’ compensation law, in order for a psychological injury to be compensable, it must satisfy two conditions:
(1) It must arise out of an accident at which the compensable physical injury was sustained; and
(2) While the physical injury need not be the precipitating cause of the psychological condition or problems, at a minimum the physical injury must contribute to the continuation of the psychological trauma.
In this case, the Administrative Law Judge found the employee’s psychological claim compensable. The State Board of Workers’ Compensation affirmed this decision as did the Superior Court. On appeal, the Georgia Court of Appeals found that the Superior Court acted properly.
This is a good case for claimants. Many claimants suffer a psychological fallout from severe on the job injuries. While in this case the claimant suffered psychological distress and anxiety after suffering an asthma attack while driving a school bus, there are more serious injuries that clearly justify psychological care under workers’ compensation. It is easy to see why employees who suffer severe injuries may also suffer psychological problems. Whether these psychological injuries while diagnosed as such using such terms as anxiety and depression, the damage can be real and long-lasting. It is also interesting that Georgia requires a physical injury in order to have a compensable psychological claim. This precludes, for example, workers who are under stress from filing workers’ compensation cases, at least in Georgia.
