When injured physically on the job, one is entitled to benefits to compensate the individual for their injuries. However, in a recent worker’s compensation decision, a former prison guard from Anchorage, Alaska who was threatened by an inmate on the job is to receive damages for mental injury.

According to the Alaska Supreme Court, sixty year-old Carl Kelly suffered severe psychological health problems when the inmate–a convicted murder who was intoxicated on hair spray, and armed with a sharp pencil, threatened him. It is possible that Kelly potentially suffered post-traumatic stress disorder.

In 1992, after five years working at the Cook Inlet Pretrial Facility, the stresses of work increased because the state started housing juveniles in adult jails. According to Kelly, the teenagers were extremely defiant, more likely to fight amongst themselves, and disregard orders. He was solely in charge of 12 to 48 prisoners at at time. Throughout those periods, Kelly had urine poured on his chair, he was constantly bullied, and threatened. In 1994, Kelly was assigned to the part of the jail which housed all inmates with mental disorders. One intoxicated prisoner threatened him with a pencil, stating that he would stab his eyes, blind him, and then stab him to death. Although Kelly was too afraid to call for help, other officers finally arrived when he was not answering calls.

A few weeks later, Kelly checked into the hospital with chest pain and high blood pressure. According to doctors notes, he was suffering from significant anxiety about his safety at work, as well as outside of work. For this he was prescribed anti-anxiety and anti-depressant medication. This eventually prompted Kelly to file for workers’ compensation benefits because due to the mental injuries sustained.

Although the State Department of Corrections tried to argue that every prison guard expects some forms of misbehavior from inmates, and that Kelly’s experience in the jail was no different than that of other officers. However, the court agreed with Kelly in the end. He maintained that what the incident went beyond what he personally expected from the job, and most importantly, what a reasonable person would expect from the job.

According to Alaska state law, workers’ compensation claims for mental-stress injuries are allowed as long as the circumstance is both “extraordinary and unusual.” However, this statute was written in 1988, so it is unclear what was meant by this particular stipulation. The court referenced this particular case back to the Alaska’s Worker’s Compensation Board to determine if the psychological injuries inflicted on Kelly were temporary or permanent. In the fourteen years since Kelly worked for the Department of Corrections, he has only had the mental stability to work for one. If the board ultimately decides that the mental injury is permanent, Kelly could be eligible to receive lost wages dating back to the earlier part of the decade. Additionally, he could expect salary compensation, possibly for the duration of his life.

Maintaining physical safety while on the job is one of the utmost responsibilities of an employer. However, this case brings to light a different type of protection necessary–psychological safety. The effects of mental illnesses and disorders effect not only an individual, but their friends and family as well. And according to the Alaska Supreme Court, this was enough to be worthy of workers’ compensation benefits. The Law Offices of Bredell and Bredell are here to help all individuals who have been injured while at their place of work. Should you or a loved one need assistance filling workers’ compensation claims, please do not hesitate to contact us.