Stress and discrimination at work can cause a number of psychological and physical illnesses, such as anxiety, depression, IBS, palpitations and heart problems. The causes of stress are varied but include bullying, harassment, discrimination and unreasonable work demands. The effects can be devastating and cause periods of illness or stop someone working altogether.
Leigh Day & Co is experienced in helping employees who suffer illnesses as a result of stress at work or discrimination to claim compensation. The cases are difficult and often cover aspects of both personal injury, employment and discrimination law.
There are a number of differences between making a claim in the employment tribunal in a discrimination case and claiming personal injury damages in the County Court. Using our personal injury and employment expertise we can advise you which route is best for you.
For example, where the personal injury is caused by discrimination at work or harassment (on grounds of sex, race, disability, sexual orientation, religion, age) it is only necessary to show that the injury was directly caused by the act of discrimination; it is not necessary to show that the employer could have foreseen the injury. However, if the tribunal do not uphold the discrimination claim it cannot award compensation for personal injury, even if the dismissal was ‘unfair’.
Leigh Day & Co is one of the few respected and highly experienced private practices who operate separate specialist personal injury and employment departments who work together to assess 'stress and discrimination' cases and provide high quality advice about where and how to best progress a claim, how to achieve a successful outcome and how to obtain the highest possible damages.
Stress cases involve a lot of work to build up evidence about the working environment, what caused the stress and (for personal injury) proving that the employer knew, or ought to have known, that they were exposing their employee to a risk of psychiatric injury (“foreseeable injury”). Typically this involves obtaining witness statements from work colleagues, analysing medical records and work records and assessing the facts against the strict criteria applied by the courts and tribunals. Often the employee will need to prove they have a medical condition supported by evidence from an expert psychiatrist.
Whilst stress at work claims are considered to be some of the most difficult types of personal injury claim, Leigh Day & Co has a good record of achieving successful outcomes for affected employees.