Depression and Work Injury: Are You Responsible?

Firing an employee is always fraught with anxiety — for both sides of the equation. But can you be held responsible for an employee's depression after termination? An appeals court in Tennessee has decided you could.

In the case of Stephen Vowell v. St. Thomas Hospital, et al., Mr. Vowell, a surgical technician, suffered a herniated disc when he slipped on a wet floor while helping move a patient. He underwent a surgical fusion of the L3 and L4 vertebrae, which resulted in a 26% physical impairment and work restrictions — such as alternating sitting and standing every 20 minutes and avoiding stooping, bending, or twisting, according to court records.

St. Thomas Hospital, in Nashville, Tenn., terminated Mr. Vowell's employment 16 months after the injury. In the meantime, Mr. Vowell had filed for workers' compensation and had begun to display "symptoms of depression related to concerns about his ability to return to work in the future," says the case file. After the termination, Mr. Vowell experienced a "breakdown," and pursued further compensation for depression, in addition to that for the back injury.

Under the terms of a settlement, Mr. Vowell will receive $269,652.50 plus future medical benefits for his back injury. St. Thomas maintains that Mr. Vowell's depression was not compensable because it did not arise out of or occur in the course of his employment, according to court records. But the appeals court upheld the judgment for compensation for both mental and physical injuries, finding that the depression was not a discrete entity, caused only by the termination. Rather, it was a mental injury that arose from a compensable physical injury, rendering the depression also compensable.

Neither D. Randall Mantooth, the lawyer for St. Thomas, nor Brian Dunigan, the lawyer for Mr. Vowell, responded to requests for comment.

Stephanie Wasek