LOS ANGELES (AP) – A California agency says it paid the mother of newborn octuplets more than $165,000 in disability payments for an on-the-job back injury.

The payments made over six years to Nadya Suleman were disclosed Thursday to The Associated Press following a public records request to the Department of Mental Health.

The payments were made between 2002 and 2008, during which time the single mother gave birth to most of her six other children.

Suleman, who gave birth to the octuplets last week, was employed at a state mental health hospital from 1997 until December, when she resigned the position. Records show that for much of that time, however, she was unable to work.