These are cases where the Claimant has suffered a distinct psychiatric injury as a result of pressures or stresses experienced in the workplace. ‘Occupational stress’ is a label that reflects a background against which the psychiatric illness is developed, it is not an indication of any particular type of illness.

What Constitutes Occupational Stress?

The Health and Safety Executive uses the term work-related stress and defines it as ‘the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressures or other types of demands placed upon them at work.

Individuals suffering from occupational stress will commonly become unable to cope with the tasks, responsibilities and pressures connected with their job, which can lead to them suffering a psychological injury with symptoms including depression, anxiety, insomnia and tiredness.

Where the pressures are intense and prolonged, employees can often suffer from serious psychological conditions including clinical depression, PTSD as well as physical injuries. Occupational stress often manifests itself in employees who feel powerless or helpless or are often junior employees.

Common Causes of Occupational Stress Are:

1. Excessive hours
2. Workload demands
3. Lack of job security
4. Bullying and harassment
5. Poor working conditions
6. Poor training or management
7. Lack of control over all of the above.

Can I Claim for Work-Related Stress?

A claim can be brought for occupational stress under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.

Under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, it is a civil wrong to pursue a course of conduct that Defendant knows, or ought to know, amounts to harassment of another.

Harassment is not formally defined but does include oppressive and unreasonable behaviour calculated to induce alarm or distress.

For it to be actionable there must be:

1. A course of action, not just a single action, and
2. Their conduct amounting the harassment.

Harassment must be:

1. Targeted at the individual who is bringing the claim or those individuals foreseeably and directly harmed by the conduct.
2. Calculated to causing harm or distress or something as a result.
3. Actually, cause alarm or distress or something as a result.
4. Be within the scope of the harassing employee’s employment.

The course of conduct can consider a combination of actions of various individual employees and the employer will be vicariously liable for that conduct. However, the bar for such conduct is generally very high.

To cross the boundary from the regrettable to the unacceptable, the gravity of the misconduct must be of an order which would sustain criminal liability under Section 2.

 If you require our assistance or wish to check if you can claim for work-related stress, get in touch with our expert Team today on 0114 3583134 or email us via our contact page.