Matter of McLaurin v. New York City Tr. Auth.

Summary

The Court of Appeals reversed the Appellate Division and reinstated the Workers' Compensation Board's disallowance of four claims for psychological injuries allegedly caused by workplace exposure to COVID-19. The court held that claimants' individual vulnerabilities were irrelevant to whether their injuries resulted from a compensable accident, and that evidence of COVID-19 prevalence did not eliminate the requirement to show that workplace stress was greater than that experienced by similarly situated workers in the normal work environment. The court concluded that substantial evidence supported the Board's finding that claimants experienced comparable stress.