First responders can now file PTSD under workers comp under new OK law

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — First responders will now be able to claim Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as a workers compensation injury after a bill was recently signed by Gov. Kevin Stitt.

Oklahoma Fraternal Order of Police President Mark Nelson said it’s been six years in the making. Usually with workers compensation, a physical injury is involved. Now, for first responders, that doesn’t have to be the case if PTSD is diagnosed.

"The things that we see and deal with on a daily basis have a profound effect,” Nelson said.

Not all injuries are visible. It’s estimated that around one in three law enforcement officers are impacted by PTSD. That’s not adding in countless of other first responders who may deal with it to. Now, a new law will allow first responders to file it as standalone workers compensation injury.

"It allows our members to get treatment generally consolidated into counseling or some type of medicine and hopefully get them back on the job, able to continue their career,” Nelson said.

There does have to be a diagnosis. If a first responder can’t return to work, they can get disability pay up to one year. If they’re found to have a permanent disability, they can receive benefits up to $50,000. Employers can be required to pay up to $10,000 for treatment as well.

Nelson called it a big step in eroding the stigma surrounding PTSD.

"Law enforcement's just been taught you go out here, you deal with the job, all the horrific things that come from it,” he said. "It's really a tool that the first responders have needed and deserved for quite some time."

The full law can be found below.