(The Record) PATERSON - A state appeals court ruled Monday that a Kennedy High School teacher is entitled to receive workers' compensation and medical benefits for psychological trauma caused by a co-worker's verbal attack.
Nancy E. Garrity, a Spanish and Italian instructor, was taken to a hospital after the argument on Sept. 13, 2000, and has not returned to work since. The court found that testimony by her treating psychiatrist, supported by two other medical experts, convincingly linked the altercation with Garrity's inability to work.
"It's been a total nightmare," Garrity, 59, said in a phone interview Monday as she fought tears. "This is horrendous what they put me through. Sometimes I'm ashamed to say I'm a teacher, you know, working with people like that. They took away my dignity. " Garrity's lawyer said the ruling highlights the special stresses educators face and the need for districts to consider all workers' compensation claims seriously.
"The court recognizes that the teaching profession has become a hostile work environment and that employers are responsible for emotional injuries" sustained on the job, lawyer Jon L. Gelman said.
Garrity testified that during the incident in question, fellow teacher Belkis Lepiani called her a "bitch" and made threatening gestures following a dispute over the use of a staff copying machine. A psychiatric expert for the Paterson school district had argued that such an encounter could not be the cause of Garrity's condition.
"Someone calling you a name at the copying machine cannot reasonably be called a traumatic event," said Brian Giblin, attorney for the district. He pointed out that other teachers testified that Garrity "had demonstrated she was capable of defending herself in the past."
To date, the district has not taken disciplinary action against Lepiani, Giblin said. Attempts to contact Lepiani at a telephone number listed in her name were unsuccessful Monday.
Judge Sandra Spizziri, a jurist in the state Department of Labor's workers' compensation division, ruled in March 2002 that the school district "behaved in a high-handed manner" in addressing Garrity's claims and showed "callous disregard for her condition and feelings."
Peter Tirri, president of the 3,400-member Paterson Education Association, said the experience of other district employees bears that out.
"In our school district, there are people who handle the workers' comp claims who treat everyone as if they are frauds," he said. "We don't have a lot of the kinds of situations this particular teacher is in, but when you're treated as if you're trying to put one over on the system ... that treatment just adds to the problem."
District spokeswoman Pat Chalmers said each claim is individually assessed, and she could not provide the amount the district had paid. But based on court records, Garrity would be eligible for more than $150,000 in workers' compensation alone. Garrity, an educator for 26 years, previously was assaulted by students at East Side High School in 1993 and in 1994 - in one case a male student threw her across a room; in the other a female student pulled her hair.
Garrity's psychiatrist, Dr. Nicholas Armenti, testified that those incidents "sensitized her to any similar event that would occur, and it did occur, and I think her reaction was one of full-blown panic."
Spizziri agreed.
"I didn't even want to get into the ambulance that day," Garrity said Monday, fighting tears. "I wanted to go back. I wanted to work, and I still do.: