Sick building syndrome

Sick building syndrome
Knapp v Vestal CSD, App Div, 247 A.D.2d 667,

From time to time there are reports of individuals becoming ill because of the quality of a building’s environment. This can result in the filling of a workers’ compensation claim.

Donna K. Knapp, a music teacher employed by the Vestal Central School District, filed such a complaint. She claimed that her health began to deteriorate after working in the Vestal Central School District’s African Road School for about a year.

Knapp said that her symptoms included “aches and pains, headaches and memory and hearing loss.” Initially diagnosed as suffering from “sick building syndrome,” she was later diagnosed as having “multiple chemical sensitivity.”

Contending that the African Road School was a “sick building,” Knapp applied for workers’ compensation benefits. Ultimately the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board disallowed Knapp’s claim, ruling that the record did not demonstrate any “unusual workplace hazard” to support her application for accidental injury due to a hazardous exposure. The Board said that there was “no evidence presented to support a recognizable link between [Knapp’s] multiple chemical sensitivity and her occupation as a teacher.”

The Appellate Division affirmed the Board’s determination. The Court observed that to prevail Knapp had to establish an unusual environmental condition or something extraordinary which caused an accidental injury even if she could not pin-point the exact date on which the event occurred.

Concluding that Knapp failed to show that she sustained an accidental injury, the Court dismissed her appeal. In so doing, the Appellate Division commented that Knapp’s theory that the African Road School was “a sick building” was undercut by the fact that she admitted that she experienced similar symptoms at other locations.

In contrast, the Appellate Division ruled that the Workers’ Compensation Board’s decision that New York City school teacher Morris Palevsky suffered a “posttraumatic stress disorder” as a result of his being injured in the course of a fight between students at a school for emotionally disturbed children was supported by evidence in the record and dismissed the City’s appeal from urging a reversal of the Board’s ruling [Palevsky v New York City Board of Education, 246 AD2d 836, lv to appeal dismissed, 92 NY2d 876, lv denied, 93 NY2d 818) ].