Elwood v. State Accident Insurance

The occupational disease law provides that a worker is entitled to compensation as for an “injury,” ORS 656.804, if the worker contracts a disease that “arises out of and in the scope of the employment, and to which an employe is not ordinarily subjected or exposed other than during a period of regular employment therein.” ORS 656.802. Mental illness can be an occupational disease, James v. SAIF, 290 Or 343, 624 P2d 565 (1981), if it arises from actual rather than imaginary job-related conditions. McGarrah v. SAIF, 296 Or 145, 675 P2d 159 (1983). The present case involves the question under…