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AUGUSTA – A bill sponsored by Assistant House Majority Leader Jared Golden, D-Lewiston, to make it easier for first responders with post-traumatic stress disorder to qualify for workers compensation was unanimously approved recently by the Legislature’s Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic Development Committee.
“Emergency responders, whether they are police officers, firefighters or emergency medical personnel, are frequently confronted with incredibly stressful situations,” said Golden in a news release from the Maine Legislature House Democratic Office. “As a regular part of their jobs they have to do things that can be life-threatening and see things that are life changing. And they do these jobs year after year. It can build up.”
The bill, LD 848, would establish the presumption that, because of the nature of emergency response work, if post-traumatic stress disorder is diagnosed in one of these professionals, it can be presumed that the diagnosis is work-related, allowing it to qualify under workers compensation.
“Emergency first responders put their lives on the line on a regular basis to keep our communities safe,” said Rep. Ryan Fecteau, D-Biddeford, House chairman of the Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic Development Committee. “The stress of that work takes a toll, and they deserve support in their hour of need. It’s the least we can do to repay their sacrifice.”
Golden is serving his second term in the Maine House and represents part of the city of Lewiston.
