Could Subway Janitor Clean up in Workers’ Comp Court after Seeing Mangled Leg?

What Do You Think?

To obtain workers’ compensation for PTSD on the job in New York City, the incident has to be pretty wild, especially if you work in the subway system. An incident in which a station cleaner witnessed the aftermath of a woman getting her leg caught between the train and platform sheds some light on how unusual the event needs to be.

It was like a movie. The station cleaner was told there had been an accident on a platform. He went to the scene and saw a woman whose leg had been torn apart. He did not provide any hands-on assistance to the woman. He watched as others pulled her free, and he saw blood and her foot all “jumbled up.” As paramedics took the woman to the hospital, a supervisor told the worker to clean up the blood. Cleaning up hazardous materials, including blood, was part of his job. He could not later say whether it was a little or a lot of blood.

After the incident, he didn’t return to the job for nearly a year, but found work as a film extra and competed as a bodybuilder.

Contending that he suffered from PTSD as a result of the incident, the employee sought benefits. A workers compensation law judge established the claim, and the Board reversed. The cleaner appealed.

An emotional stress-induced injury is not compensable in New York if the alleged stressor is one the claimant should reasonably and ordinarily be expected to encounter in the normal work environment. It may be compensable if it was an unexpected or extraordinary event at his job.

A Workers' Compensation Law Judge established the claim, and the Board reversed.

Was the cleaner’s PTSD claim compensable?

A. No. Incidents involving gruesome injuries did sometimes occur and his job duties included cleaning up hazardous materials.

B. Yes. The average similarly situated worker would have developed PTSD from the incident.

If you selected A, you agreed with the court in Brown v. New York City Transit Authority, No. CV-23-2457 (N.Y. App. Div. 10/15/26), which found the claim was not compensable.

The court concluded that the event was not so unusual as to render the cleaner’s PTSD compensable. “Although the record establishes that such subway incidents do occur, albeit rarely, it was not unexpected as claimant acknowledged that his job duties included cleaning up hazardous materials, including blood,” the court said.

The court also found it telling that the claimant worked as a film extra for a casting network while he was away from the job. Further, he concentrated on participating in a bodybuilding show for which he engaged in daily acts of physical exercise and maintained a specific and regimented diet. 

It affirmed the denial of the claim.

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