Supervisor’s Credibility Disconnects Verizon Worker’s PTSD claim 

Case File

Work is stressful—sometimes very stressful. But an employee is unlikely to have a compensable claim based on stress alone. Instead, she’ll have to show that stress was out of the ordinary—greater than what similar workers experience.  A case involving a Verizon worker in New York recently addressed that issue.

Case

Gorbea v. Verizon New York, Inc., No. CV-23-1581 (N.Y. App. Div.  10/10/24).  

What Happened

The field technician was diagnosed with PTSD in 2013. She said she subsequently experienced work-related stress between July 2016 and August 2016 that exacerbated her PTSD and filed a workers’ compensation claim. 

Specifically, she said she was overworked and exposed to constant intimidation and harassment. People were yelling at her every day when she arrived for work in the morning, to the point where she feared for her safety. 

Another source of stress during that period, she claimed, was when her supervisor instructed her to falsify her timesheets. 

The Workers' Compensation Board denied her claim, ruling that she did not sustain a psychological injury caused by a workplace accident. The technician appealed. 

Rule of Law

In New York, for a psychological injury to be compensable, a claimant must establish that the stress that caused her psychological injury was greater than that which other similarly situated workers experienced in the normal work environment.  

If the stressor is one the claimant should reasonably and ordinarily be expected to encounter in the normal work environment, then the injury is not compensable. On the other hand, it may be compensable if the stressor was instead an unusual, unexpected or extraordinary. 

What the Court Said

The court affirmed the board’s finding that the technician did not experience any stress that was greater than that which other similarly situated workers experienced. 

In addition, the court noted, the Board credited her supervisor’s statement that the supervisor never instructed her to falsify her timesheets. He simply instructed her to use a different code, as technicians had been using an incorrect code on their timesheets. 

Further, the Board was not persuaded by the technician’s testimony that she was harassed and intimidated on the job. 

“Given the great deference accorded the Board's credibility determinations, and that the record does not otherwise reflect that claimant experienced work-related stress greater than other similarly situated workers, we discern no basis upon which to disturb the Board's denial of benefits,” the court wrote. 

Takeaway

If a worker's stress doesn't differ much from what other employees in her role face, it's not likely that it will lead to a New York workers' compensation claim.

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