It’s hard to imagine an event more related to work than the moment you find out you are losing your job. But recently the Illinois Worker’s Compensation Commission decided against a police officer who was injured when she fainted after being surprised by her termination. The officer’s firing had apparently come without warning. When she heard the news, she was so shocked and upset, that she fainted, and in the process injured her forehead and knee.
There was no apparent reason for her fall other than the emotional trauma she had just experienced. There was nothing in her surroundings and no other fact about her job that seemed to contribute to her fainting or her falling; or that made her injury from the fall worse. Because of this, she was denied workers’ compensation benefits. The arbitrator found that there was nothing about her workplace conditions that contributed to the fall or to her injuries.
In a situation like this, it would have seemed like a good argument; that the stress from suddenly losing your job can set off a physical reaction like fainting. And the fainting then is connected to work, because certainly without being involved in employment, you can’t be terminated from employment.
The claim was denied, though, because even though firing is a function of work, being laid off or terminated is a stress that everyone faces at work, and it’s not a stress specific to her employment. It is an unfortunate reality that most people go to work every day with the possibility that they could lose their job. So her fainting after firing remains a risk that is only unique to her personally, and not to her work.
The decision to deny benefits did seem to leave open the possibility that if there was some medical testimony or record that showed there was something about her specific firing that caused her to faint, the results may have been different. So every situation is worth looking at to see if its own special facts can end with a different result. But without anything more, losing your job, though very traumatic, is not likely to result in an injury that can entitle you to workers’ compensation benefits.
We are workers’ compensation attorneys that help people with Illinois work injuries anywhere in IL via our statewide network of attorneys. Contact us and we will answer your questions or find the right lawyer for your situation.