Justices turn down woman's bid for compensation after robbery

Although the woman suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, she was not physically hurt during the ordeal.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- A former bank teller who hasn't been able to return to work since being confronted by a robber is not eligible for workers' compensation because she was not hurt physically, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.
State law allows the payments to disabled workers for work-related psychological conditions only if the same incident causes a physical injury, the 5-2 ruling said. The justices also rejected the teller's argument that the distinction is unconstitutional.
Kimberly McCrone has not returned to Bank One Corp. since the robbery in August 2001, the second in her three years working at the bank. She has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
The ruling overturns findings by the trial court and the 2nd Ohio District Court of Appeals that the law is unconstitutional for treating physical and mental injuries differently. Other appellate rulings have upheld the law, wrote Justice Judith Lanzinger.
The distinction is reasonable because mental injuries are more difficult to prove, and lawmakers have a genuine interest in protecting the limited resources of the fund to pay injured workers, she wrote.
Justice Evelyn Lundberg Stratton wrote that she agreed only reluctantly with the majority.
"I urge our legislators to consider extending workers' compensation to these injuries," she wrote. "However, I would not mandate coverage by judicial fiat."
Dissenting justices Alice Robie Resnick and Paul Pfeifer said they would find the law unconstitutional for treating psychological injuries differently.
"Since when is reducing governmental costs sufficient to nullify the basic protections afforded by the Ohio Constitution?" Justice Resnick wrote.