finding that the exclusivity provision of the Alabama Workers’ Compensation Act (Ala. Code §§ 25 — 5—52, 25 — 5—53 (1975)
How later courts described this case
- finding that the exclusivity provision of the Alabama Workers’ Compensation Act (Ala. Code §§ 25 — 5—52, 25 — 5—53 (1975)
- adopting test that stressful conditions of job must be those to which average worker would respond rather than conditions which a particular claimant might view as stressful due to a subjective personality disorder; standard requires that work related stressful conditions must be a major contributing cause of the disorder, ruling out non-job related sources of stress
- noting that many prominent psychotherapists compiled the manual, which comprehensively describes the manifestations of mental disorders
- if at-work conditions, compared to nonemployment exposure, are major contributing cause of disease or disorder, then claimant eligible for compensation
Written by the judges who cited it.
Distinguished
Distinguished by King v. Board of Education, 123 Md. App. 73 (1998)
296 Or. 145, 675 P.2d 159 (1983), also is inapposite because the Oregon statute does not appear to define “occupational disease” as strictly as does our Act.
The opinion
LENT, J.,
concurring.
I write separately only to express what I perceive to be the thrust of the opinion of the court. “Stress” is not the disease. It is a word which describes the mechanism by which conditions or events actually present at the work place result in mental disease.
*167 An occupational disease is considered an injury except as otherwise provided in the Occupational Disease Law, ORS 656.804. As such, the disease may be a nondisabling compensable injury if it requires medical services only, ORS 656.005(8) (c), or a disabling compensable injury if the disease results in disability or death, ORS 656.005(8)(b).
If conditions or events actually present at the work place are the major contributing cause of a mental disease necessitating medical services or resulting in disability, the worker is entitled to compensation as defined in ORS 656.005(9) under the Occupational Disease Law.