Opinion ID: 1312304
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: BOYLE v DETROIT BOARD OF EDUCATION

Text: For nearly thirty years, plaintiff worked for defendant as a teacher. During the bulk of his last fifteen years, he was an art teacher at Cooley High School. Plaintiff testified that his mental distress began in the seventies. Student conduct markedly declined, and his art class became a dumping ground for problem students who were failing other subjects. He flunked eighty to ninety percent of his students in some classes because of high absenteeism or inattention. He testified that tardiness was also a serious problem; students in his first-hour classes would straggle in thirty or forty minutes late. Plaintiff found the tardiness problem to be very stressful. Plaintiff was also upset by incidents that occurred in his classroom when he was not using it. He shared the room with another teacher, Robert Williams. Plaintiff felt that Williams did not maintain proper control of his students. He alleged that Williams let his students carve their initials on the tables and let paint drip on the chairs and floor. He reported his concerns to the director of the art program, but apparently nothing came of it. Cutbacks in the art department's budget meant the cancellation of plaintiff's advanced classes. This left him with students who only took his basic art class because they needed an elective course, art being one of the few electives available. Plaintiff called his advanced classes the bright spot of his day. After the cancellation of those classes, he became increasingly depressed by the caliber of students he was left to teach. Plaintiff was also troubled by actions of the faculty and administration. He believed that some teachers had sex with students. He regarded such relationships as unprofessional. Plaintiff started to use sick days so that he would not have to go to work. He began drinking heavily during the last four to five years of his employment. On October 28, 1983, he was helping a student draw a face when his hand began to shake uncontrollably. He went home after work and proceeded to go on a rampage. He destroyed his apartment and apparently attempted suicide. On November 10, 1983, plaintiff was admitted to Woodside Medical, a facility described by the WCAB as being for the emotionally disturbed and alcoholics. He was treated for alcohol dependency, given psychiatric counseling, and released on November 30, 1983. Plaintiff briefly returned to work. January 4, 1984, turned out to be his last day of work. On that day, one of his students opened the classroom door before the bell rang. When plaintiff told him to close it, the student responded by calling him a crazy, old loony. The remainder of the class began chanting the phrase. Plaintiff left work and never returned. Plaintiff filed a claim for mental disability benefits, claiming his emotional breakdown was due to mistreatment he received from students, co-workers, and administrators. The experts agreed plaintiff was disabled, but disagreed on the cause. One doctor stated plaintiff's inability to work was directly related to the stress of his employment; another attributed it to alcoholism. The WCAB denied plaintiff benefits because, under MCL 418.301(2); MSA 17.237(301)(2), the events alleged by him did not establish that a work-related personal injury had arisen out of actual events of employment. Assuming that plaintiff is disabled, we are not convinced that his disability occurred in or out of the course of his employment. We find that plaintiff has failed to prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that he has incurred a disabling injury arising out of or in the course of his employment. [Unpublished opinion of the WCAB, decided May 23, 1990 (Decision No. 645).] The Court of Appeals affirmed. Workers' compensation benefits are not available just because a plaintiff establishes the existence of some incident or event that is upsetting to the plaintiff. There must be an injury. The Legislature has required the injury to be based upon the actual events of employment. Sections 301(2) and 401(2)(b). This requirement would become meaningless if the ordinary daily conditions and minutiae of employment were sufficient to support a mental disability claim. Thus, ordinary stresses of employment (existing in probably all jobs) are not sufficient to establish the required injury. [197 Mich App 255, 260; 494 NW2d 818 (1992).]