The Tennessee General Assembly has approved a workers’ compensation presumption that post-traumatic stress disorder is work-related for firefighters, joining several other states that have adopted mental health presumptions in recent years.
Senate Bill 856, sponsored by state Rep. Johnny Garrett, R-Goodlettsville, was named after Dustin Samples, an east Tennessee firefighter who took his own life in 2020 after years of dealing with stress from witnessing grisly events on the job.
“He held it in for so long, struggled for so long,” his wife, Jennifer Samples, told a Nashville TV news station.
Samples is one of more than 120 firefighters or first responders who died by suicide in 2020. The U.S. Department of Health estimates that 30% of first responders develop PTSD.
Supporters of the Tennessee presumption measure in 2022 staged a 170-mile walk at the state capitol to draw attention to the issue. The bill did not pass last year but gained wider support this spring. The Senate and the House approved it in late April with no dissenting votes, and the bill now goes to the governor for his signature.
“This legislation will enable us to honor Brother Samples’ memory and allow our members to get the help they need early,” Tennessee Professional Fire Fighters Association President Matthew Tomek said in a statement. “We are grateful to all our friends in the General Assembly for supporting this bill.”
To qualify for benefits, the PTSD must be diagnosed by a mental health professional after the firefighter witnessed at least one adverse incident.
Factors to be considered in determining if the stress is work related include:
- Witnessing the death of a minor or treating a minor who later died; or witnessing a death or injury that “shocks the conscience.” That wording that is similar to PTSD laws in other states, including Florida, but has been criticized by some mental health professionals.
- Responded to an incident in which a co-worker or family member of a responder sustained bodily injury or died.
The bill would apply to firefighters who are diagnosed within a year after they have left fire department employment, according to a legislative summary of the measure. The legislation also would require the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development to establish a grant program to mitigate the costs to fire departments that provide benefits for PTSD victims, and to provide mental health training for personnel. The department must provide annual reports on PTSD claims and benefits.
No extra funding was provided, however, and the department must utilize existing staff and must find grant money from “whatever funding sources are available,” the summary explains.
Tennessee workers’ comp statutes already provide two-thirds of an injured worker’s average weekly wage, for up to 104 weeks, for psychological injuries – but no presumption.
Most states now provide some type of comp benefits for firefighters or other first responders who may need treatment or time off for mental stress, but relatively few go so far as to create a presumption that PTSD is work-related. An Atlanta workers’ compensation claimants’ law firm, Gerber & Holder, reports that 13 states offer no benefits at all for mental-only injuries.
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