It is possible to recover damages from an employer for psychiatric injuries caused by stress at work. Extensive guidance on the relevant principles to be applied in cases concerning psychiatric injury arising out of occupational stress was given by the Court of Appeal in a case called Hatton v Sutherland. In essence, an employer will be liable if he in breach of his duty to an employee and this gives rise to a foreseeable injury. However, whether the injury could be foreseen depends on what the employer knew or ought to have known about the employee. Generally, an employer is entitled to assume that his employee can cope with his work, regardless of the employee’s actual occupation, as the Court of Appeal said that there were no occupations which should be regarded as intrinsically dangerous to mental health.
However, the situation is different if there are signs that an employee is particularly vulnerable and is not coping with his work. These signs are not set in stone but could include indications from the employee or from others that the employee is suffering from stress. Therefore, if you actually tell your employer that your work is making you stressed, this should generally act as a warning sign for your employer to do something about it. What does your employer then have to do? He has to take reasonable steps to reduce your harmful stress levels. The precise steps that need to be taken all depend on the facts of each case. For example, if you complain that you are stressed because your working hours are too long, your employer should consider employing others to undertake some of your tasks, to relieve the pressure on you.
If your employer knew or ought to have known that you were stressed and did not take reasonable steps to reduce your harmful stress levels, you may have a claim for damages for any psychiatric injuries you suffer as a result. However, you will need evidence from a psychiatrist to show that if your employer had acted reasonably to reduce your stress levels, your psychiatric injury would have been of lesser severity or would have been avoided altogether. If you would have suffered from the same psychiatric injury even if your employer had taken all reasonable steps to help you, then it is unlikely that you will succeed in any action in negligence. This is because your employer will say that his negligence did not cause your injury- you would have suffered from it in any event even if he had not been negligent.
This is a very complicated area of law, and we recommend you contact a local solicitor listed in our directory for specialist advice.