"Writing for the majority, Judge Shirley Troutman said transit workers and teachers everywhere were experiencing the same stressful circumstances during the pandemic. The high court's ruling overturns the Appellate Division, Third Department's finding last year in favor of the plaintiffs. Troutman also said the Third Department was wrong in considering workers' pre-existing conditions when coming to its decision and that the high prevalence of COVID-19 in the workplace, which has been used to decide physical injury claims of infection in favor of workers,"
"Our position has been that it's the same extraordinary' standard, regardless of whether the injury is physical or mental, Schotter said. The majority in yesterday's decision appears to have accepteda higher kind of extraordinary plus' requirement for mental injuries. We think that is the wrong reading of what the law has always been. Schotter said he believed this was evident because the court didn't consider the fact that COVID-19 was prevalent in the workplace as a valid reason for the workers to seek compensation"
Court of Appeals, in a 4-3 split, held that mental anguish and PTSD suffered by Metropolitan Transportation Authority workers and a teacher during the COVID-19 pandemic were not sufficiently extraordinary to qualify for workers' compensation. Judge Shirley Troutman wrote that transit workers and teachers broadly experienced the same pandemic-related stressors and that workplace COVID-19 prevalence did not by itself establish an exceptional stress injury. The court rejected reliance on workers' pre-existing conditions in overturning the Appellate Division's contrary ruling. The plaintiffs' attorney argued that mental injuries are being held to a higher proof standard and urged legislative action for mental health workers' compensation.
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