In November, the Ohio Legislature was considering House Bill 338, which included an amendment that would allow corrections officers to receive Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) benefits for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) without an accompanying physical injury.

NFIB joined several other business organizations and wrote a letter to members of the Ohio House Judiciary Committee explaining that a provision as consequential as allowing mental-only injuries – for the first time in the more than 110 year history of the state’s workers’ compensation system – needs to be fully vetted instead of being amended into a bill that is already moving. This language is much broader than previous legislation that would allow first responders to receive PTSD coverage and would allow corrections officers to file a claim if they simply learned of a coworker’s injury.

Small businesses understand the importance of protecting our corrections officers, but the provision to allow mental-only injuries would significantly change the workers’ compensation system and needs to be fully vetted.

Members of the Committee listened to our concerns and agreed: the language was removed from the legislation. Furthermore, the legislature appropriated $40 million from the General Revenue Fund to seed the already-existing Post Traumatic Stress Fund to help with this issue. This is a significant win for the Ohio business community!