By: Lauren N. Harvey
Governor Tony Evers signed into law Senate Bill 11, now 2021 Wisconsin Act 29, which allows a law enforcement officer or firefighter to receive workers’ compensation if they have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
The bill provides that if a law enforcement officer or firefighter is diagnosed with PTSD by a licensed psychiatrist or psychologist and the mental injury that resulted in that diagnosis is not accompanied by a physical injury, that public safety officer can bring a claim for workers’ compensation benefits if the conditions of liability are proven by a preponderance of the evidence and the mental injury is not the result of a good-faith employment action by the person’s employer.
Under prior law, public safety officers were required to prove that PTSD was caused by usual stress compared with what their co-workers regularly experience on the job to claim workers’ compensation. The new bill only requires a diagnosis from a licensed professional that does not need to be based on the officer suffering greater stress than his or her co-workers.
The bill limits the liability for treatment and compensation to 32 weeks after the injury is reported, and restricts compensation for such injuries and diagnoses to three times within an individual’s lifetime, regardless of a change in employment status.