King v. Board of Education of Prince George's County6/10/1999
Ronnchey Lynn King v. Board of Education of Prince George's County, No. 113, September Term, 1998.
WORKERS' COMPENSATION --MENTAL AND NERVOUS DISEASES In order to satisfy ยง 9-502(d)(1)(i) of the Workers' Compensation Act, a claimant must present evidence that her alleged disease is "due to the nature of an employment in which hazards of the occupational disease exist." "Employment" in this context means the profession or general occupation in which the person is engaged.
In this case we are called upon to revisit the issue of "mental-mental" claims as occupational diseases under the Maryland Workers' Compensation Act. Ronnchey Lynn King (Petitioner) claims that as a result of her responsibilities as a transportation assistant for the Board of Education of Prince George's County (Respondent), she suffered from a stress-related, compensable occupational disease. We shall hold that Petitioner's mental illness is not "due to the nature of an employment in which hazards of the occupational disease exist," and, as a result, her illness is not a compensable occupational disease under the Act. Accordingly, we shall affirm the trial court's grant of summary judgment in favor of Respondent.
I.
On September 14, 1983, Petitioner began her employment with the Board of Education of Prince George's County as a substitute bus driver. In October, 1984, she became a full time bus driver and in October, 1988, she was promoted to auxiliary bus driver. Her duties included driving buses for absent bus drivers and updating "run sheets" on the computer. In that position, she averaged twelve hours per day, five days per week, in addition to some hours working in her home. In June, 1990, she was promoted to assistant foreman. As assistant foreman, she typically worked twelve hours per day, five days per week during the regular school year, including additional hours spent working at home; and, eight hours per day, five days per week during the summer months, for which she was not compensated. In September, 1991, she was promoted to transportation technician, where she worked in excess of twelve hours per day, five days per week, year round. In September, 1992, she was promoted to transportation assistant; according to King, she was then performing her new duties as transportation assistant as well as her old duties of transportation technician. King testified that from September, 1992 to July 1, 1995, she was responsible for many of the duties of transportation management analyst, such as routing and scheduling. In 1995, she was offered the position of transportation management analyst, effective July 1, 1995. After the person hired to perform the job of transportation assistant left after only two days on the job, King testified that she performed the jobs of three people: transportation technician, transportation assistant, and transportation management analyst.
Petitioner began seeing Dr. Ralph Wadeson, a psychiatrist, in March of 1995. In September of 1995, Dr. Wadeson diagnosed Petitioner with somatization disorder and major depression. On October 16, 1995, Petitioner suffered what she characterizes as a breakdown. She left work and "just busted out crying and felt like if didn't lay down we going to die, sick to stomach." Dr. Wadeson noted that her symptoms in October, 1995 included nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and chest pains, and her symptoms in December, 1995 included pain, headaches, pain in her abdomen, chest and hip, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, cramping in her gastrointestinal system, loss of libido, balance problems, confusion in her verbalizations, and unsteadiness on her feet. Dr. Wadeson opined that her somatization disorder was "a result of the extreme stre
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