Living with high levels of stress over a long period of time can be damage your mental health to the point where medical intervention may be necessary.
Employers are legally obliged to ensure that they are looking after the physical and mental wellbeing of employees to the best of their ability. If this obligation is neglected, they leave themselves open to claims for stress at work.
Here is a non-exhaustive list of common stress at work claims:
- Denial of rights – Refusing toilet, coffee or lunch breaks, not allowing leave for dental, hospital or GP appointments, making unreasonable demands – such as frequent after-hours working.
- Disregarding mental health issues – When an employer is aware of a worker’s mental health issues but has failed to make necessary adjustments to accommodate their needs.
- Excessive workload – Having more work on your plate than one person is realistically capable of handling. This can also have a detrimental effect outside of the actual workplace.
- Harassment – Threats, physical, sexual or verbal assault, attacks on ‘protected’ characteristics, and some forms of workplace bullying.
- Insufficient training – Training wasn’t offered, or was of an unsatisfactory level, on the expectation that a worker would be able to perform their role to the desired standard.
- Unfairly applied policies or procedures – Setting a particular employee up for a fail, selectively applying rules, singling individuals out for a task that doesn’t fit the correct skill set.
- Workplace bullying – This could encompass physical or verbal abuse, belittlement, humiliation, exclusion, malicious pranks, passive-aggressiveness or outright aggression towards a specific person.
There are simply some common forms of stress in the workplace caused by a variety of factors.
If you feel that you have suffered any of the above, have raised the problem with your employer and nothing was done or it was handled poorly, you may be entitled to make a claim.
Further reading
Stress at work – Oakwood Solicitors
Understanding the law on work-related stress – ACAS
WHAT TO DO NEXT
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Jessica Rowson started as a Paralegal at Oakwood Solicitors in July 2010, qualifying as a Solicitor in September 2013. Following her qualifying as a Solicitor, Jessica established a niche department …
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