Employee targeted for murder by co-worker’s husband due comp benefits for PTSD
A supermarket employee is entitled to workers compensation benefits for post-traumatic stress disorder that was exacerbated as a result of being targeted for murder by a co-worker’s husband, a New York appellate court has ruled.
Arthur Mosely was working as an assistant store manager at a Hannaford Bros. Co. supermarket in upstate New York in November 2007 when he made a work-related phone call to a female co-worker, court records show. The woman’s husband became convinced that the co-workers were involved in a romantic relationship, which led him to threaten Mr. Mosely and target him in a murder-for-hire plot, according to records.
Mr. Mosely requested to be transferred to another Hannaford location following an internal investigation of the incident, records show. Ultimately, his pre-existing PTSD worsened and rendered him unable to continue working, at which point he filed a claim for workers comp benefits, according to records. Hannaford contested, saying that the claim was not causally related to Mr. Mosely’s employment.
A judge determined that Mr. Mosely’s PTSD was work-related, and a split three-member panel of the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board upheld the judge’s decision, as did the full board upon review, records show. Hannaford appealed.
On Thursday, the appellate division of the New York Supreme Court affirmed the board’s decision and awarded workers comp benefits to Mr. Mosely.
“Here, the work-related phone call from claimant to his co-worker’s home was the basis for the subsequent harassment of claimant at his place of employment,” the ruling states. “The board properly found the required nexus between the threatening conduct that exacerbated claimant’s pre-existing condition and claimant’s employment.”
http://www.businessinsurance.com/article/20140708/NEWS08/140709869?tags=|309|304|92
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