Verga v. WCAB, 159 Cal. App. 4th 174 (2008)

Rosemary Verga sought workers’ compensation benefits for an alleged psychiatric injury she sustained while working for United Airlines. However, the WCAB found Verga was not actually subjected to harassment or persecution. Instead, she was “a difficult person to get along with [who was] impolite, unpleasant, and co-workers never knew when she might get upset.” The Court of Appeal affirmed the WCAB’s order denying compensation, holding that “to allow an employee to harass co-workers and, when they respond unfavorably, to claim a stress-related injury to the employee’s psyche would increase, not reduce, workers’ compensation claims and create the potential for abuse of the system.”