Court Opinion

ID: 9935207
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-02-09 18:55:33.060989+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:27:12.928369
License: Public Domain

I concur in the result because I do not believe an employer's duty to provide a safe workplace under § 25-1-1, Ala. Code 1975, extends to protecting an employee from emotional injuries. Under the Alabama Workers' Compensation Act, an employee cannot recover for purely emotional injuries. See
Lawrence T. King, Re-Testing the Exclusivity Provision of theAlabama Workers' Compensation Act: Where We Are Now, 18 Am. J. Trial Advoc. 295 (1994). I do not believe the legislature intended to extend § 25-1-1 to cover purely emotional injuries. In my opinion, § 25-1-1 was designed to protect employees from physical injuries resulting from the employer's failure to provide a safe workplace and does not extend the employer's duty so far as to allow the imposition of liability for purely emotional injuries. *Page 1147