Mental Health Claims Are Rising. Employers Should Pay Attention.
labor · October 1, 2026
Mental health claims are still a small part of the workers’ compensation system.
Mental health claims are still a small part of the workers’ compensation system.
But they are growing.
And that should get somebody’s attention.
A new study from the Workers Compensation Research Institute found that mental health claims increased 47 percent from 2015 to 2024 as a share of paid workers’ compensation claims.[1]
The rate rose from about 0.23 mental health claims per 100 paid claims to 0.34 during that period.[2]
That is still a relatively small number.
Do not miss the trend because the number is small.
Public Safety Should Pay Attention
The WCRI study found that mental health claim frequency increased across several industries.
Public safety rose from approximately 0.40 claims per 100 paid claims in 2015 to 0.66 in 2024.[3]
Healthcare experienced an even larger increase, from about 0.19 to 0.42.[3]
The diagnoses involved included:
- anxiety disorders,
- PTSD,
- adjustment disorders,
- depressive disorders,
- and other stress reactions.[1]
Workplace violence mattered too.
Robbery or criminal assault accounted for about 11 percent of paid mental health claims and 18 percent of claims involving more than seven days away from work.[3]
That should matter to anyone responsible for employees working in high-risk environments.
Stop Treating Mental Health Like It Starts at Home
Organizations sometimes talk about employee mental health as though workers arrive with a completely separate personal life that has nothing to do with the workplace.
Sometimes mental health challenges do originate outside work.
Sometimes the work itself matters.
Violence.
Threats.
Traumatic incidents.
Chronic stress.
Repeated exposure to crisis.
Unsafe environments.
Excessive workload.
The point is not that every difficult workplace creates a compensable mental health claim.
It does not.
The point is that mental health can be an occupational issue too.
The workers’ compensation system is increasingly seeing evidence of that.
The Numbers May Still Understate the Experience
WCRI’s study focused on claims where the primary diagnosis was a mental health condition.[1]
It did not include situations where someone suffered a physical workplace injury and later received treatment for a related mental or behavioral health condition.
That distinction matters.
The study tells us something important.
It does not tell us everything.
Not every worker experiencing anxiety, trauma, depression, or stress files a workers’ compensation claim.
Not every worker believes the condition qualifies.
Not every worker knows how to report it.
And not every workplace culture makes employees comfortable saying:
This job is affecting me.
Employers Should Read the Trend Before It Becomes the Crisis
A 47 percent increase deserves more than a wellness email.
Employers should be asking:
Where are the highest-risk jobs?
What traumatic events are employees repeatedly exposed to?
What happens after a serious workplace incident?
Are employees encouraged to seek help?
Are supervisors trained to recognize problems?
Does the organization respond early or wait until performance deteriorates?
Are mental health concerns treated differently from physical injuries?
Those are workplace questions.
Not just healthcare questions.
Leadership Has to Catch Up
For years, organizations have invested heavily in physical workplace safety.
Protective equipment.
Policies.
Training.
Incident reporting.
Workers’ compensation systems.
Return-to-work procedures.
Mental health has often been treated differently.
That distinction is becoming harder to defend.
The new WCRI numbers do not mean mental health claims are suddenly overwhelming workers’ compensation systems.
They are not.
They mean the direction is clear.
The claims are increasing.
The better question is whether employers will recognize the trend before the claims become the only evidence employees were struggling.
Because by the time somebody files a claim, the workplace may already have missed several opportunities to respond earlier.
Sources
[1] Workers Compensation Research Institute, Mental Health Claims in Workers’ Compensation: A Multistate Analysis, September 29, 2026.
https://www.wcrinet.org/reports/mental-health-claims-in-workers-compensation-a-multistate-analysis
[2] Workers Compensation Research Institute, “Mental health claim frequency rises 47% in comp: WCRI,” September 29, 2026.
https://www.wcrinet.org/news/detail/mental-health-claim-frequency-rises-47-in-comp-wcri
[3] Behavioral Healthcare Network, “Mental Health Workers’ Comp Claims Rise 47% Since 2015, WCRI Finds,” October 1, 2026.
https://www.bhnet.org/86261/mental-health-workers-comp-claims-rise-47-since-2015-wcri-finds/
[4] Business Insurance, “Mental health claim frequency rises 47% in comp: WCRI,” September 29, 2026.
https://www.businessinsurance.com/mental-health-claim-frequency-rises-47-in-comp-wcri/
Key takeaways
- WCRI found that the frequency of mental health workers’ compensation claims increased 47% from 2015 to 2024.[1][2]
- Mental health claims remain uncommon overall, rising from approximately 0.23 to 0.34 per 100 paid workers’ compensation claims.[2]
- Among claims involving more than seven days away from work, mental health claim frequency increased 40%.[2]
- Public-safety mental health claim frequency increased from about 0.40 per 100 paid claims in 2015 to 0.66 in 2024.[3]
- Anxiety, PTSD, adjustment disorders, depression, and other stress reactions were among the conditions examined.[1]
- Workplace violence and criminal assault were identifiable contributors to some mental health claims.[3]
- The study only counted claims where mental health was the primary diagnosis, meaning it does not capture every situation in which workplace injury and mental health overlap.[1]
- Employers should view mental health as part of workplace risk management, not merely an individual wellness issue.
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