STRESS AT WORK CLAIM

This can be exacerbated by an employee’s lack of:

1. Job security
2. Poor working conditions
3. Harassment
4. Bullying
5. Lack of childcare
6. Excessive hours
7. Excessive demands
8. Excessive workload
9. Poor training
10. Bad management

Often employees who are experiencing occupational stress show a variety of symptoms including, depression, anxiety, insomnia and tiredness. If left unattended, occupational stress can lead to serious psychological illnesses such as clinical depression and posttraumatic stress disorder.

Employers Duty –

In addition to the numerous health and safety statutory duties your employer also has a common law duty to take reasonable care of your health and safety in the workplace.

An employer may be liable for occupational stress if:

1. The employer failed to provide a safe place to work.
2. The occupational stress the employee was subjected to was sufficient to create a reasonably foreseeable risk of injury.
3. employer failed to do all that they reasonably could to prevent the occupational stress from developing
4. employee suffered a positive psychiatric illness as a result of the occupational stress
5. employee suffered a positive psychological symptoms such as depression or posttraumatic stress disorder as a result of the occupational stress.

Bullying and Disability carry added protection in the workplace:

If the bullying is classed as sexual (which includes your sexuality), religious or racial harassment, or is linked to disability, you have rights under sex, race or disability legislation.

If you have a disability which makes it harder for you to deal with, or more prone to suffering stress, like depression for example, your employer also has a duty to make certain adjustments to help you.

What should you do? –

If you think you’re suffering from work-related stress you should speak to your employer.

For example, positive action you can take:

• if you’re not sure of your role at work, ask your employer to make clear what is expected of you
• if you don’t have enough control over your work, you should ask for more decision-making rights
• if you’re finding changes at work stressful, ask for more talks about them with your employer
• if you don’t get enough support from your employer, ask for better communication; if enough staff want one, it might be possible to make your employer set up a consultative committee which is known as a works council
• if poor relationships are affecting how you do your work, check your employer’s policy on bullying and harassment
• If you have a child under the age of six, or a disabled child under the age of 18, you have the right to request flexible working. Your employer has to give the request proper consideration.
• ask for flexible working

If your employer is unable – or unwilling – to remove the cause of your stress, you can follow the grievance procedure set out in your employment contract or company handbook. If your workplace has one, your health and safety representative can accompany you to the meeting you have with your employer.

If an employer does offer to take steps to help you, by referring you to an occupational health specialist for example, you should accept their offer, unless there is good reason not to.

Legal Remedy –

If you can’t sort out a dispute through the grievance procedure and you can’t carry out your job in the way your employer needs you to, you may have a claim for constructive unfair dismissal if you consequently leave your job.

Alternatively an employee is able to make a claim against occupational stress, when an employer fails to protect an employee against undue pressure and stress in the workplace, which later goes on to develop into an identifiable physical or psychological injury. In such instances a claim can be taken to court for personal injury compensation.

It does not matter if the employee was also under stress outside the workplace, as long as the events in work were a “material contribution”, and it was reasonably foreseeable that the events would lead to the employee suffering an injury. For example, the employee may have reported the events to their employer, or they may have submitted a doctor’s note, and the employer failed to deal with the incident or make reasonable adjustments to remedy same.

If you believe that you have been subject to stress at work and have suffered an injury as a result of same please contact us for a free assessment on whether you have a claim for compensation on

02830267134

law@lukecurran.co.uk