Roberto Silva Jr. opened fire inside a Sonic restaurant in Bellevue on November 21, 2020. His rampage claimed the lives of two people and injured two more.
Other employees were left to bear the emotional scars of witnessing the terror unfold.
However, according to Nebraska law, those witnesses are ineligible for workers’ compensation. A bill introduced by Bellevue State Senator Carol Blood seeks to change that.
Legislative Bill 5 would amend a section of the Nebraska Workers’ Compensation Act to cover people who have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder by a mental health professional even if they were not physically injured as a result of a workplace violence incident.
Blood testified Monday to the Legislature’s Business and Labor Committee, of which she is a member, that the bill would add Nebraska to the nine other states that provide workers’ compensation benefits for mental injuries. Workplace violence eligible for such benefits, according to the draft version of her bill, would include a shooting, hostage situation, act of terrorism, or similar act of violence occurring in the workplace.
Blood argued that the bill would better protect employees and employers from the consequences of a workplace violence incident.
Six people spoke in favor of Blood’s bill. Proponents included Bellevue Police Chief Ken Clary, who described the mental injuries suffered by those involved in the Sonic shooting as “life-altering.”
“Survivors who suffered these injuries and are unable to return to work should not be abandoned by the system that is supposed to protect injured workers, especially when some of the most dramatic events that could occur in the workplace,” he said.
A woman who worked at Sonic that night told the committee about her trauma and despair.
“No one should have to fight for help because of something beyond their control, especially in the workplace,” the woman said.
Two people testified in opposition to the bill, claiming that its scope is too broad.
Several aspects of the bill were criticized by Dallas Jones, a Lincoln attorney speaking on behalf of several organizations including the Nebraskans for Workers’ Compensation Equity and Fairness and the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
“The language is open to anyone who is not at work and heard about it and had a mental reaction to it,” Jones explained.
Blood slammed the opponents’ comments, calling them “poppycock.” She claims that no opponents have offered to collaborate with her on the problematic language.
“I believe it is a fair bill,” she stated. “I think it is a bill that affects everyday people.”