New Jersey Workers’ Compensation Act: Stress at the Workplace

Work can be stressful. However, when certain events at your place of employment start to cause physical or emotional symptoms, it can become overwhelming. And when these symptoms are not properly treated, it can cause a variety of health problems. If stress from work has caused physical or emotional problems, you should contact a New Jersey workers’ comp attorney as you may be entitled to workers’ compensation benefits.

Stress is recognized as a compensable cause of action under New Jersey’s Workers’ Compensation Act. Workers’ compensation claims involving stress str generally classified in two categories: where stress produces physical symptoms and where s tress produces purely psychiatric symptoms.

Three-Prong Test

Whether a person is entitled to workers’ compensation benefits is based on a three-pronged test enumerated by the New Jersey Appellate courts:

1. The working conditions must be objectively stressful when viewed objectively, proven by believable evidence beyond just the perception of the person affected;
2. The stress must be peculiar to the particular workplace as opposed to working conditions found elsewhere;
3. There has to be objective evidence supporting the medical opinion of a resulting psychiatric disability over and above the mere subjective statement of the claimant.

Meeting these requirements for stress related workers’ compensation claims is not easy without the legal assistance of a New Jersey workers’ comp attorney.

When No Workers’ Compensation Can Be Claimed For Stress

Certain circumstances resulting in stress are not recognized as a compensable cause of action under New Jersey’s Worker’s Compensation laws. One specific case is unemployment.  Courts have held that unemployment is not a risk arising out employment, rather a risk basically arising out of the economy. As such, a receipt of a lay off notice is neither peculiar to the employment nor essentially related to the work or the nature of the work.

It is also very difficult to claim workers’ compensation for stress when the stress exacerbates a preexisting condition or when it is caused by normal working conditions.

Your New Jersey workers’ comp attorney can help you determine whether you can successfully file a workers’ compensation claim for your work-related stress injuries.

Contact Us

If you think you are subject to stress related conditions at work that resulted in subsequent health problems, call New Jersey workers’ comp attorney Dan Matrafajlo at (908) 248-4404 to see if you are eligible for workers’ compensation benefits.