Weber Gallagher Simpson Stapleton Fires & Newby LLP

Jeffrey D. Newby, a partner in the Cherry Hill office of Weber Gallagher Simpson Stapleton Fires & Newby LLP, led a national teleconference on April 7, 2006 addressing mental stress claims in the workplace, sponsored by Lorman Education Services.

Perhaps the most nebulous and ill-defined workplace injury involves the claim of mental disability as the result of stressful working conditions.  Unlike the garden-variety orthopedic injury and even pulmonary injury, there is no objective medical evidence that can unequivocally establish psychiatric disability let alone its relationship to workplace stress.  This program addresses solely the mental/mental claim, i.e., mental stress leading to mental disability.  This is the far more elusive topic and as distinguished from physical/mental (physical injury leading to depression, for example), and mental/physical (psychiatric difficulties leading to physical problems).  Psychiatric claims also generally involve a more unique burden of proof, potentially greater exposure, and generally somewhat more complex litigation.