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If you are or have been singled out for unfair treatment whilst at your place of employment by your boss,a manager or a colleague you do not have to suffer in silence. WORKPLACE BULLYING whilst common-place is illegal and action can be taken in the Industrial Tribunal,the Cival Courts and in serious cases in the Criminal Courts.

The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 imposes a legal duty on employers to look after the health,safety and welfare of their employees so far as is reasonably possible. If they did not do this they are breaching an individuals contract of employment and action may be taken in the cival courts for any illness including psychiatric illness caused by the abusive behaviour.

There are a number of older pieces of legislation under which criminal proceedings can be taken however the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 represents a strengthening of the public order provisions in a variety of different situations including workplace bullying.

Stress caused by workplace bullying can cause serious disabling psychological illnesses including anxiety,clinical depression and post traumatic stress disorder. These psychiatric conditions can be associated with unpleasant physical symptoms including nausea,headaches,ulcers,skin rashes sleeplessness,irritable bowel syndrome,tearfulness,loss of self-confidence and high blood pressure. Damages payable by negilgent employers who fail to adequately deal with the situations that cause stress can be substantial with a number of recent Cival Court awards exceeding £200,000.Damages in the Employment Tribunal are usually limited by statute however there are certain situations that attract unlimited damages and claims can sometimes be made to the Criminal Injury Compensation Authority. Empolyers will be liable to pay compensation if an emplotee can show:

That the employer has failed to provide a safe place of work.

That the employers negligence caused the employee to suffer from a recognisible psychiatric illness.

That the stress suffered was sufficient to create a reasonably forseeable risk of injury.

That the employer failed to do all he reasonably could to resolve the problem.

J.L. Dennis-Anti Worplace bullying alliance 

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 25th, 2006 at 10:39 am and is filed under No Category. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.