Steak ‘n Shake robbery victim must go through comp for mental injury

A Steak ‘n Shake employee who experienced “severe emotional distress” as the result of a robbery can’t sue her employer and must first file a workers compensation claim, despite that Florida permits employers to reject workers comp mental injury claims that are without a physical component, the District Court of Appeal of Florida ruled Friday.

As documented in Docket Number 5D2024-0148, the worker filed her lawsuit claiming she had been harmed emotionally in the robbery, in which she “was held at gunpoint and forced into a backroom where the gunman repeatedly threatened to kill her” and was “grabbed her by the shoulder and neck during the encounter.”

A trial court allowed her lawsuit to proceed, arguing that the “framework” for workers comp in Florida does not allow compensability for such a mental injury claim, as the worker did not claim she was injured physically.

The appeals court reversed, holding “that an employee may not file a tort claim against her employer in circuit court without first seeking a determination of whether she is entitled to workers compensation benefits” and “that only a workers compensation carrier or a judge of compensation claims has the authority to determine compensability.”

The court explained that “the facts in each case vary and must be evaluated within the workers compensation framework to make a compensability determination. Here, the claimant… was subject to an armed robbery in the workplace during which she was physically touched by the robber and held at gunpoint. She is entitled to compensation under workers compensation law for mental or nervous injuries if they were accompanied by a ‘physical injury requiring medical treatment.’ She did not, however, submit a claim, such that neither the carrier nor a judge of compensation claims made a compensability determination, thereby leapfrogging the statutory framework.”