We win a trial under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.
The actions were by a foreman to his supervisee. The harassment consisted of:
a) On the Claimant refusing to “ shop” late colleagues to his manager, the manager threatening to punch out the windows of the cabin and have him up before the personnel department and, on a separate occasion,
b) Losing his temper (“F*** off… you are a little s***...”) and threatening violence (“I’ll give you a hiding”)
The Judge also found this was a breach of the common law duty of care for which the employer was vicariously liable. He found no causation between the breach and any psychiatric injury.
But, under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, it was possible to make an award without proving any prescribed psychiatric injury, and £2,000 was awarded for that short term anxiety of a few months.
Seventy five per cent of costs to be assessed were awarded to reflect the lost negligence case.
Conn -v- The Council of the City of Sunderland. 22 August 2005, Newcastle upon Tyne County Court.
Excess hours under Working Time Regulations do not make a stress claim.
There was nothing new about this case save for the argument that regularly working in excess of 48 hours was a breach of the statutory duty under the Working Time Regulations 1998, reg 4.
Held: the claimant had not worked significantly in excess of the 48-hour limit and it would anyway be difficult to show that was causative.
Lois Sayers -v- Cambridgeshire CC (2006) EWHC 2029 (QB)