Let’s Get Physical
By Robert Warne - March 13, 2002A U.S. District judge’s ruling in Washington D.C. that classified bipolar disorder as a physical disability has many employment law professionals going crazy. Although the ruling isn’t binding in other courts, attorneys on both sides of the aisle realize this decision has opened the door wider for similar claims.
The core issue of Judge Henry H. Kennedy’s decision is based on whether a manic depressive condition is a physical or mental disability.
Jane Fitts after being diagnosed with bipolar disorder had to quit her job at Fannie Mae because she was unable to perform her day-to-day work activities. As with most disability plans, Fitts received payments for 24 months based on the prognosis she had a mental illness. But people diagnosed with physical disabilities typically receive payments until they are 65.
Kennedy cited that the chemical imbalance Fitts suffered from was visible on brain scans, thus giving the condition a physical classification. He also reasoned that disorders such as anorexia nervosa and Alzheimer’s disease are commonly regarded as physical illnesses.
A psychologist for the defendant, insurer Unum-Provident Inc. argued that a bipolar disorder is a mental illness because it is “characterized predominantly by a cognitive, emotional or behavioral abnormality,” according to the Wall Street Journal. This argument was based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, published by the American Psychiatric Association.
The judge turned it around by using the same source. The mental disorder manual notes there is no difference between mental and physical disorders.
California put the brakes on workers’ compensation psychiatric injury claims in 1993. The current law requires an employee to demonstrate that 50 percent of his psychiatric stress was job related where as the old law only required 10 percent.
It is too early to say how, or if, this decision will affect California claims, including workers’ compensation, but many attorneys know they have a chance in court if they dress the mental illness in a physical argument.
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