Posted By Dave Wilson Lots of variables here mate. Who says the person is suffering 'stress' to such a degree as to be off work? A doctor or had enough throw a sickie! what about other colleagues doing the same work, are they suffering? Is this where the person hasn't been matched to the job and therefore can't do it, or is the workload really excessive? Who makes this decision? Difficult to say, there has been some case law on this though, cant think of the case off hand but to do with a Social services chap. Think that all persons who work suffer some degree of stress or pressure at work and some people are better prepared to cope with that and some aren't, also the individual may be under pressure at home which may add to this. As to liability 'on the balance of probability' only the courts can decide on each and every case presented and the particular circumstances involved.

Posted By Kieran Duignan Nick Pearson is generally right with the approach he outlined. Actually, the classic case on occupational stress in the UK is the Walker v. Northumland County Council. Since then, the issue has been refined by the Hatton and Sunderland judgments. In practice, two issues need to be borne in mind. One is that 'clinical assessments' by a doctor, other an an occupational health specialist who is also a psychiatrist, may not adequately address relevant workplace hazards and therefore is open to challenge by, for example, a chartered occupational psychologist who is also a trained counsellor and a registered safety practitioner (as I am, and I have an outstanding challenge to a court statement by a doctor who misinformed a tribunal). The other is that the channels an employee can use to claim use quite different rules of evidence: a personal injury claim through a county court is judged through the CPR process which is a lot more rigorous than the industrial tribunal channel through which a constructive dismissal claim is made.

Posted By Joe Ridley Hi all, Thanks for the responses they have been most helpful and have assisted me in understanding a little more about stress and how the legal side works. I agree with what Neil said, but if the management had been informed about the situation repeatedly and done nothing...say over a period of 6 months...then the employee visits their GP who signs them off with stress, would the employee have had to keep a note of when the management was told at the various times about the amount work that was being piled up in order to prove nothing was done? Also what would be the interpretation of the actions of colleagues who were aware of the pressure this person was under but did nothing about it save comment on how terrible it was etc? Would this then mean that we would have to report instances where employees are under stress based on hearsay as this may be the only way to be aware of this? Cheers Joe