First responders in Alabama could file mental injury claims without a physical injury under a bill proposed by state lawmakers on Tuesday.
H.B. 212 would eliminate language in the state’s workers compensation law that states “an occupational disease is not considered to include a mental disease or disorder, including post-traumatic stress disorder, unless a physical injury accompanies the mental disease or disorder.”
According to a draft, the bill would provide that a law enforcement officer or firefighter employed by a municipality, county, or fire district and diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder would be reimbursed for “certain co-payments for treatment or would require a county or municipality to maintain sufficient coverage for the reimbursement of co-payments.”
It would also require counties, municipalities, and fire districts to provide disability payments or coverage for law enforcement officers and firefighters who are unable to return to work as a result of PTSD.
The bill was referred to the House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means General Fund.
Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill Monday that would expand the definition of employee in the state’s Workers Compensation Act to include additional titles of volunteer first responders who would be entitled to compensation if they are injured during a rescue.