Could Social Worker Attacked by Family Dog get Benefits for Trauma?

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New York, NY (WorkersCompensation.com) – Injured employees in New York may be able to obtain workers’ compensation benefits for a psychological injury. But they’ll have to meet the correct standard, as a case involving a CPS worker shows.

In that case, the social worker was conducting a home visit when the family dog charged her, struck her chest, and knocked her into the side of the house. It was a traumatizing event, she said, partly because the claimant had been bitten and physically scarred from a dog attack when she was young.

She filed a claim for workers' compensation benefits alleging that she sustained an injury to her chest. She also alleged psychological injuries, consisting of PTSD, anxiety, and acute stress disorder. She said that she was severely traumatized by the incident and had not been able to sleep. 

The Workers' Compensation Board established that portion of the claim alleging a chest injury. It disallowed the claim for work-related psychological injuries. It reasoned that a dog jumping on the social worker while she performed a home visit did not constitute stress greater than the stress experienced by similarly situated CPS workers. 

On appeal, the court explained that, generally, where a psychological injury is alleged to be caused by work-related stress, the stress must be unusual. Specifically, the claimant must demonstrate that the stress that caused the psychological injury was greater than that which other similarly situated workers experienced in the normal work environment.

When a workplace accident results in a physical impact, however, the resulting physical and psychological injuries are both compensable, so long as the claimant establishes a causal connection between the accident and the alleged injuries. 

Did the Board correctly deny the social workers’ psychological injury claim?

A. No. It failed to address whether the dog hitting her and knocking her against the house caused her psychological injuries.

B. Yes. Being charged by a dog is not that unusual for a child protective services worker conducting a family visit.

If you selected A, you agreed with the court in Lewis v. NYC Admin. for Children Servs., No. CV-23-0279 (N.Y. App. Div. 10/24/24), which held that the Board applied the wrong standard to the claim.

First, the court noted that this was a case involving a workplace accident resulting in physical impact.based upon the dog jumping on her chest and knocking her into the side of the house. Further, the claimant alleged that it was that impact that caused her psychological injuries. Thus, the Board erred in requiring that she establish a separate workplace accident comprised of work-related stress.

“Rather, upon finding that a workplace accident had been established, the Board's inquiry was limited to whether claimant showed, through competent medical evidence, that there was a causal relation between the accident and the injury,” the court wrote. 

The court reversed and sent the case back to the Board to determine whether there was a causal connection between the accident and psychological injuiries.

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