Hertz worker mental injury claim not compensable: Court
Reprints
A former Hertz Corp. employee who claims he experienced workplace retaliation and harassment after complaining about discrimination is not entitled to workers compensation benefits for a claimed mental injury, a Tennessee workers comp court ruled Monday.
The employee sought benefits for psychological injuries, claiming he suffered a mental breakdown in February after a yearlong period of co-worker altercations.
The Tennessee Court of Workers’ Compensation Claims determined the worker wasn’t entitled to benefits because he failed to offer evidence showing the mental harm was specifically connected to the workplace.
In order for a mental injury claim to be compensable in Tennessee, an employee has to prove the psychological injury was caused by a specific work incident, and that the worker in this case failed to identify an unusually stressful work-related event that would have caused his mental injury, the court wrote.
The court wrote that a gradual or cumulative mental injury claim has not been recognized as compensable in Tennessee.
