In the last six weeks, over 150 Minneapolis police officers have started the process of filing disability claims.

Meuser, Yackley, and Rowland, P.A. has represented thousands of individuals with their workplace disability and injury claims and specializes in supporting public employees and law enforcement officers eligible for PERA benefits due to physical and mental disabilities, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Today Founder Ron Meuser, Jr. issued the following statement:

In order to qualify for Duty Disability benefits under the PERA Police and Fire Plan or the PERA Correctional Plan, a police officer, firefighter, or corrections officer will need to demonstrate that he or she has a condition that is expected to prevent him or her from performing the normal duties of the position for a period of not less than 12 months as a direct result of an injury incurred during the performance of inherently dangerous duties that are specific to the position. See Minn. Stat. § 353.01, subd. 41 and Minn. Stat. § 353E.001, subd, 1.

As many of you are aware, Meuser, Yackley & Rowland, P.A. is responsible for representing literally hundreds of individuals who have suffered from the effects of PTSD, more commonly known as post-traumatic stress disorder. Quite frequently, those individuals will come from professions such as police and fire, but more and more we are seeing those who are coming from the emergency medical service areas. Those individuals, such as paramedics, emergency medical technicians, dispatchers, and others who are directly involved with traumatic events but may not necessarily come to mind as those who can or would be exposed to trauma leading to PTSD. Today I want to talk about those individuals, because those individuals and their injuries and conditions are just as serious and important as those of the other first responders such as police and fire.

On January 1, 2019, a new law went into effect that may drastically change the way work-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) claims are handled in Minnesota. For PTSD injuries that occur on or after January 1, 2019, there is a presumption for first responders that their PTSD is work-related.