Could Driver get Benefits for PTSD Caused by Customer who Attacked her bus?

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There’s a classic comedy skit by Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner where a 2,000-year-old man explains the secrets of his longevity. Number 1: “Never run for a bus - there'll always be another.” 

That man (who, by the way, didn’t look over 1,975-years-old) didn’t mention it (because it was implied), but you should also never climb on a bus’s front bumper in New York City traffic and pound on the windshield.

That's what happened in the case of a long-time bus driver who developed PTSD after a man pounded on the door and demanded to be let in while the bus was stopped at a red light.  When the driver refused to open the door, the man allegedly threatened her, climbed onto the bumper, banged on the windshield, bent a wiper blade and, after unsuccessfully attempting to reach through a side window, broke a side mirror.

Apparently very shaken by the incident, the driver did not return to work until three months later. 

The Workers' Compensation Board denied her claim, concluding that she didn’t sustain a compensable injury.

Where a workplace injury is purely psychological, a claimant must demonstrate that the stress that caused the claimed psychological injury was greater than that which other similarly situated workers experience in the normal work environment.

In applying that standard, courts consider:

1. Whether the stressor is one the claimant should reasonably and ordinarily be expected to encounter in the normal work environment; or
2. Whether it was instead an unusual, unexpected or extraordinary part thereof and therefore accidental.

If the former, the injury is considered not to be an accident and therefore is not compensable. If the incident falls into the second category, it may be compensable. 

Was the customer's attack on bus something driver should have expected?

A. No. It’s not a normal part of being a bus driver.

B. Yes. Aggression from members of the public was something the driver should have reasonably expected to encounter.

If you selected B, you agreed with the court in Waddy v. Manhattan Bronx Transit Auth., No. CV-23-0854 (N.Y. App. Div. 01/16/25), which held that the driver’s PTSD was not compensable.

In determining whether the event was unusual, unexpected or extraordinary, the court stated that it was necessary to consider the experiences of other similarly situated workers. The court noted that, according to the Transit Authority, it was not unusual for drivers to encounter irate passengers. Most people simply curse at the driver and walk away, but some become sufficiently angry that they punch or kick the vehicle (the vehicle nearly always wins that fight).

The job of a bus driver, the court indicated, includes interacting with members of the public, including unruly ones. The court declined to second-guess the Board’s determination that the driver should reasonably and ordinarily be expected to encounter that type of incident as a part of her work environment.

It affirmed the Board’s decision to deny the driver benefits.

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